On the morning of Valentines day 2023, the second official day of spring training (At least for WBC pitchers and catchers), the Yankees position players who reported early took the field for I/O (Infield/Outfield practice). Everything looked normal, until you saw the 6’7 monster Aaron Judge with…a First Basemans glove.

Is he secretly injured? Contract clause?

Big-money players have had a history of shifting positions later in careers. The usual cause being that players later in career get older, and are more suseptible to losing their athletisism that they once had in the prime of their careers. The loss of athletisism would obviosuly hinder a players ability to play the Outfield and Catcher. The positions that require the most athletisicm.

Some Of The Best Players Who Preserved Their Careers By Switching Positions:

Some of the greatest players that have played the game while switching positions late in their illustrious careers include Miguel Cabrera, Jorge Posada, Giancarlo Stanton, and Joe Mauer. Posada was moved in his final year of his career, where he gave the Yankees no production. Although it didn’t quite work out, he played catcher all the way through his age 39 season, which is alot for a normal human. It’s quite understandable how his production fell off in his final year.

As for Cabrera, he played a few seasons of both 3B and 1B (some with the Florida Marlins) before becoming the full time 1B/DH for the Tigers. It was his age 31 season where he started there full time. 2014-2018 could be considered some of his “prime years”, posting 3 consecutive years of 900+ OPS, .300+ BA, and all star appearances while being in the top 11 for MVP voting in all 3 years. Cabrera clearly benefitted off of the switch, as all of these magnificent numbers came during his older aged years.

The great Twins catcher Joe Mauer had a similar career path, switching from Catching to 1B. Although his numbers weren’t nearly as good as Cabrera’s at the time, posting years that were all below an 801 OPS with BA’s all below 270 and no more then 11 homeruns. However, he was able to maintain a positive WAR, making him a solid player above replacement level, making a strong veteran impact for the young Mid-2010’s Twins teams.

It should be to nobodys surprise that Aaron Judge will most likely end up on this list, before his contract ends on his age 40 season. Judge, who is 6’7, 282 Lb’s, is already entering his age 31 season and has already had a history of muscle related injuries. He has had 3 Oblique strains, 2 calf strains, and other minor IL stints such as for COVID-19, and Wrist/Lung fractures. At some points in his career, its called for the yankees to go to extreme measures to keep Judge healthy. In some instances, they would only play him a few innings in the field without hitting. They’ve also given Judge consecutive days of regular rest, which is a rare occurance, considering the fact that Judge in these occurences was injury free.

Its shown that over time, the yankees and other organizations have put more efforts into players health and wellbeing. According to Spotrac, 2019 and 2021 were years in which players missed 47,000 (in 2021), and 58,000 total games (in 2019) due to IL stints. However, 2022 only saw about 44,000 total games due to IL stints, which is down from 2019 and 2022, but significantly higher then years prior to 2019, which was the year pitchers were throwing the hardest, and the most home runs were hit. That correlation would drive some to conclude that Aaron Judge would be considerably more injury prone then others.

A transition into first base for Judge would fit him very well, as the Yankees big man approaches the later years of his career. The idea is definitely beneficial for Judge, as it can lead to him being much healthier, and it can keep him fresh for the marathon that is the Major League Baseball season.