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Derek Jeter or Aaron Judge — Who Is Better?

Even the most casual, non-fanatical admirers of the New York Yankees are aware of the names Derek Jeter and Aaron Judge. In their respective careers, they’ve risen to become the most popular players for baseball’s most storied franchise. Jeter’s playing days are over; his legacy is cemented. Judge, who is entering his fourth season as New York’s starting right fielder, still has a long career ahead of him. When Judge steps off the outfield grass at Yankee Stadium for the final time, he may possibly overtake Jeter for the title of the greatest Yankee of the 21st century. 

The greatest similarity between the two athletes is their emergence onto the sports scene at a time when the Yankees were in the midst of periods of relative mediocrity. When Jeter debuted in 1996, the franchise hadn’t won a title in over 18 years and even finished below .500 for a few years. Of course, Jeter’s rookie season coincided with a championship ring and with it the beginning of a late-90s dynasty. In addition, Jeter posted a batting average of .314, which ranked him 22nd among all major league players. 

Judge, for his part, was granted the right field starting job in 2017, when sports pundits predicted that the Yankees wouldn’t even make the playoffs. Then, suddenly, the Yankees made it all the way to the penultimate postseason round before a disappointing loss to the eventual champions, the Houston Astros. Despite his record-breaking statistical regular season, in which he hit 52 home runs, Judge could not match Jeter’s accomplishment of a championship ring in his first season.

Along with reinvigorating the franchise on the field, both Judge and Jeter gained fame as cultural icons. 

In terms of attention and hype received in their debut seasons, Judge was propped up as a superstar almost immediately. (Conversely, it took Jeter a few seasons to achieve superstar status). The Yankees’ front office placed a tremendous amount of trust in Judge, going so far as to devote an entire section of the stands to him. The Judge’s Chambers, as it is known, is full of fans donning fake wigs and banging gavels. 

After his debut season, Judge was reportedly offered over 100 endorsement deals. It’s unlikely, though, that he will surpass Jeter’s staggeringly high endorsement total of $130 million. Jeter, for his part, has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated a dozen times and has even had a stint as a host for “Saturday Night Live.” 

There is one cultural aspect, however, for which Jeter far surpasses Judge, and that is his status as a heartthrob. In his early years, whenever his name was announced as he was preparing for an at-bat, teenage fans at Yankee Stadium would scream, as though Jeter was a member of the Backstreet Boys or N’Sync. Jeter was even at one point romantically linked to singer Mariah Carey. Unfortunately, Judge – with his bulky physical stature – lacks that quality. Judge, who weighs in at 282 pounds, dwarfs Jeter’s weight of 195 pounds. 

It is difficult to determine which player is more of a threat at the plate, considering the vast differences in how Judge and Jeter approach their at-bats. In terms of pure contact, Jeter clearly has the advantage. Jeter’s career batting average is .310, which is far better than Judge’s average of .273. However, Jeter’s overall game was designed for opposite-field line drives that would float over the heads of second basemen and first basemen. Judge, on the other hand, has a titanic approach at the plate, preferring to swing for the fences. This results in abnormally high strikeout numbers. In fact, in his career, Judge has struck out in 38 percent of his at-bats, while Jeter only struck out 16 percent of the time. 

In terms of power production, the players are almost the exact opposite. Judge only needed 1,623 at-bats to reach 117 career home runs, while it took Jeter 4,388 at-bats to reach the same total. 

It’s highly unlikely, however, that Judge’s hitting success will persist long into the future in the same way that Jeter did. During the twilight stages of his career, Jeter remained an excellent contact hitter, and even led the league in hits at the age of 38. This is the advantage of having a swing that is designed for contact instead of home runs. In all likelihood, Judge will stop hitting mammoth home runs at the age of 33 or 34. Historically, power hitters tend to see their bat speed go down at this age, and it will be extremely difficult for Judge to transition to a contact hitter. 

The final factor in determining whether Judge will outlast Jeter at the plate is a consistent, sustainable, career-long approach to hitting. Judge, despite his elite exit velocity and the way the ball rockets off his bat, will never be an elite hitter in the final years of his career. 

What Judge lacks in sustainable hitting, he makes up for in his comparably superior defensive game. During his career, Jeter was able to garner a number of Gold Glove awards. A closer examination reveals, however, that he was, in actuality, a poor defensive shortstop. The metric defensive runs saved measures how many scoring chances are eliminated by a player’s defensive ability. In his short career, Judge has averaged 19 defensive runs saved per season. By contrast, Jeter had negative 11 defensive runs saved per season, placing him dead last in that statistic among all shortstops. One can debate the effectiveness and validity of sabermetrics at great length, but the fact remains that Jeter was a liability at the shortstop position. 

Judge’s superiority in the field may lead to an award that eluded Jeter throughout his entire career: the Most Valuable Player Award. Jeter, despite his consistency, never finished higher than second in MVP voting. This was largely because his wins-above-replacement rating (WAR) – the metric that measures overall value – was dragged down by his poor defensive ratings. 

Even though Jeter at the shortstop position was equivalent to a stationary statue, he fared slightly better than Judge on the basepaths. In his first three seasons, Jeter swiped 67 stolen bases, and he still managed to swipe 30 in 2009 at the age of 35. Judge, on the other hand, has not eclipsed double digits yet.

Metrics aside, the most important value in determining a player’s legacy is one that the New York Yankees place at the highest premium: the number of championships. After a highly successful first five seasons, in which Jeter attained four championships, the Yankees’ success leveled off, and it wasn’t until 2009 that the World Series trophy came back to the Bronx. Judge has yet to reach a single championship, and he is fast approaching 30 years old. Still, Judge has demonstrated the leadership qualities that are similar to Jeter’s. About Judge, manager Aaron Boone stated simply, “He commands respect.” Reliever Dellin Betances is also quick to sing Judge’s praises, saying, “A lot of the younger guys – and even the older guys – look up to the way he handles himself on and off the field.” 

Leaders set by example, and it may be that Judge’s example of clobbering the ball may not work out in the long run. Baseball franchises have embraced the home run, possibly at the detriment of winning championships. A quick look at the highest home-run hitting teams of all time shows that power may not translate into winning. Of the top 25 teams, only one of them – the 2009 New York Yankees – has gone on to win the World Series. In fact, 10 of the top 25 teams were from 2019, and none of them won the title. 

The late-90s New York Yankees, the teams that were guided by Jeter, were bereft of a true slugger at a time when players like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were routinely hitting 60 and 70 home runs per season. They still managed to win the World Series. 

It appears that the contact hitting of Jeter is far likelier to win championships than the power hitting of Aaron Judge. 

The pieces around Judge, however, may prove to be the boost that lands him his first World Series title. Their starting pitching, bolstered by the acquisition of elite pitcher Garret Cole, will keep the scores close in October games. And their young hitters will consistently put men on base, allowing Judge to drive them in. This combination may lead to postseason magic.

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