How Aaron Judge of the Yankees Plans to Emulate Juan Soto's 2025 Basestealing Success in 2026
The Yankees' Aaron Judge is aiming to replicate Juan Soto's impressive basestealing feat from 2025, but will he be able to match the Mets' star's 38-steal performance in his own team's upcoming season?
TAMPA, FLA. — Aaron Judge, the Yankees captain, has a unique approach to statistics. Unlike many players, he doesn't delve into stats until after the season. However, this past winter, he took a closer look at Juan Soto's performance after the latter's successful year with the Mets. Soto, who had a standout season with the Yankees the previous year, managed to steal 38 bases in 42 attempts, a remarkable achievement.
Interestingly, Judge acknowledges that Soto isn't known for his speed. In fact, according to Baseball Savant's analytics, Judge's sprint speed surpasses Soto's. Despite this, Soto's ability to steal bases was a significant trend last season, as evidenced by several players setting career-highs in steals.
For instance, Josh Naylor, one of the slowest runners in the majors, managed to steal 30 bases and was caught stealing only twice. His sprint speed rating placed him in the bottom three percentile. Similarly, Trevor Story, the Red Sox shortstop, had a stellar season with 31 successful steals, despite never surpassing 20 in his previous years. Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox and Oneil Cruz of the Pirates also set new personal records in steals.
Judge has a history of setting specific goals for improvement each spring training. Last year, he focused on becoming a more well-rounded hitter, and he succeeded, hitting a career-best .322 in 2024. This season, he's set his sights on emulating Soto's basestealing prowess.
"Baserunning is definitely on my mind this year," Judge shared after a spring training workout. "I've noticed a lot of guys around the league with 40 or 30 (stolen) bases, which is unusual." Judge attributes this to the 2023 rule change that limits pitchers to two pickoff throws per at-bat and the increased size of the bases, which has reduced the distance between them.
With the Yankees boasting one of the best lineups in baseball, Judge is in a prime position to succeed. Last season, he finished fourth in hits and second in walks, posting a .457 on-base percentage, the highest in the majors. If he can replicate his 2025 performance, he'll have numerous opportunities to steal bases. However, he might also aim to surpass Shohei Ohtani's 59 steals in 2025, setting a new benchmark.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Judge humorously remarked when asked about aiming for the first 60/60. Will Judge be able to match or exceed Soto's basestealing success? The baseball world awaits with bated breath, eager to see if he can pull off this ambitious goal.
