AN EXCLUSIVE "JUDGE OR WILLIAMS" NUGGET

The game is tough and sometimes players get hurt.  You can't blame Aaron Judge for swinging hard last night. The dude was trying desperately to get something going for himself. That .177 average was eating him up.  Bottom line, Judge is now hurt, and the Yankees have decided to bring up Mason Williams to replace him in the outfield.

According to several reports, but we'll take NJ.com on this one:

"With slugger Aaron Judge out for probably the rest of the season with a right oblique injury he suffered Tuesday night, the Yankees called up outfielder Mason Williams on Wednesday to help assuage the loss.

Williams, 25, has only played 43 games this season—Rookie (1), High-A (11), Triple-A (31)—having returned in early July after recovering from shoulder surgery in August of 2015.
In those 43 games he's 51-for-171 (.298) with 10 doubles and two triples; 23 of his 24 RBIs have come at at Triple-A."

And I was able to get another small nugget about this whole Mason Williams, Aaron Judge thing.  This is coming from my source who has some knowledge about the inner workings of Yankeeland and you'll only get this here at Bleeding Yankee Blue. Thank God I have a friend willing to give it up...

I've been told that brass was split on whether or not to call up Judge in the first place.  Some had suggested that Williams, who's been on the farm longer and forever touted was the more logical choice because of his athletic ability in the field should have been the call-up. But, there's a but...

My source tells me that there was a part of "certain brass" that wanted to show off Judge a bit because of "all the hype." I asked if they think Judge earned his spot with his call up and I was told "Absolutely, but Williams made more sense to some."  Seeing it now after Judge's injury, that ultimately bit them in the ass, but no doubt, I loved see Judge in the Pros. It was a lot of fun... briefly.

Look. Here's the good news; Judge will be back.  He's proven he can play the field, he's got a great bat and over time he will hit major league hitting.  Be what happened to him, be it a slump or him just not being ready, who knows and honestly, who cares.  Judge IS for real and he will be back next season... I have no doubt.

For now though, it's the Mason Williams show and I look forward to watching him roam the outfield tonight!

Nice nugget... and a good report from Hatch at NJ.com.