Yankees’ Aaron Judge drops stolen base goal for 2026

Feb 16, 2026 - 21:45

The New York Yankees are back, and Aaron Judge is ready for the season to begin, as he attempts to help his team go deeper in the playoffs. During a press conference, Judge answered some questions about what he could do to improve his game and what he could get better at, including a stolen bases goal.

Aaron Judge was asked if there's something new he's working on in his game:
"Definitely baserunning's on my mind this year a lot. I saw a lot of guys around the league with 40, 30 bases that you don't usually normally expect to be running that much.
Especially with how the… pic.twitter.com/bj0217bZo3
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) February 16, 2026

Judge noted that he could try to get better at stealing bases. Notably, he indicated that it could be a thing to discourage pitchers from intentionally putting him on base. It would also be a way to allow him to get into scoring position.

For context, Judge does not try to steal bases much. In fact, he had just 12 last season. Judge also swiped 10 bags in 2024, which followed just three in the 2023 season. Judge had 16 stolen bases in 2022, which was a career high. However, he had just six in 2021 and none in 2020. Judge had just 18 stolen bases over the first four seasons of his career.

After Judge won the MVP, he has skyrocketed to the top of the league in terms of being one of the best players in baseball. While the Yankees have not won the World Series while he has been in town, the goal is still the same. The Yankees remain contenders as long as Judge stays healthy and helps power their offense. Although he could add more stolen bases to his stats, Judge remains the biggest power threat in the Yankees’ lineup.

The current projections have Judge batting second again, which will put him right in front of Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice. If Judge feels the need to give them a better chance to drive him in, he could think about swiping second.

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