Aaron Judge’s personal hitting coach made some waves on Thursday when he ripped the Yankees on social media.
“They’ve lost 13 out of 18 while he’s hitting like an MVP,” Richard Schenck tweeted in response to a YES Network graphic comparing Judge’s stats in wins and losses. “The Yankees offensive player development is terrible.”
They’ve lost 13 out of 18 while he’s hitting like an MVP
The Yankees offensive player development is terrible.
— Richard Schenck, JFD PPP LQC TTE 🙂 (@Teacherman1986) July 4, 2024
Ironically, Schenck’s post came within minutes of Yankees rookies Austin Wells and Ben Rice homering in an 8-4 loss to the Reds, which saw the Bombers fail to win their sixth straight series. Earlier in the day, the Yankees booted sophomore shortstop Anthony Volpe from the leadoff spot.
On Friday, Judge said that he had not seen Schenck’s post.
“I honestly really don’t care what’s said on Twitter. If you’ve got anything about Rich, I think you guys gotta go ask him,” Judge said, adding that he had not discussed the tweet with Schenck. “It doesn’t involve me to be honest. It’s somebody else making a comment. I’m not going to comment for somebody else.”
Judge said that he meets with Schenck every two weeks. The hitting coach, who runs Teacherman Hitting, has also worked with the Tigers’ Kerry Carpenter and the Cubs’ Ian Happ, among others, according to his website.
Schenck frequently posts clips of Judge while talking hitting on social media. There’s been plenty of worthy highlights this season, as Judge woke up with the league lead in home runs (32), RBI (83) and OPS (1.135) on Friday. He was also hitting .314.
Following Judge’s 52-homer, Rookie of the Year campaign in 2017, the outfielder credited Schenck for transforming his swing.
Big shout out to my man @Teacherman1986 Thank you for all the hard work and dedication to transform my swing in 2017. Lets have some more fun in 2018! Can’t thank you enough, you are a career changer. #SnapIt pic.twitter.com/SdVWnOdNK8
— Aaron Judge (@TheJudge44) January 19, 2018
Asked if he was okay with his personal hitting coach criticizing the Yankees, Judge said, “I got no control over what another person does.”
Aaron Boone took a similar approach when asked about Schenck during his pregame press conference.
“That’s stuff that’s out of your control,” the manager said. “People are gonna say things, and certainly everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Especially when you go through a tough stretch and you wear this uniform, I know people are gonna take shots and things like that. So you can’t get all consumed with all that stuff. We got enough to worry about.”
