Yankees' Aaron Judge reveals new skill he's adding to his game for 2026

Aaron Judge just won the AL MVP, again.

The New York Yankees' superstar isn't content, though. He wants to get better.

For 2026, Judge wants to be a better base runner and potentially steal more bases. That's what he told reporters on Monday at spring training.

"Definitely baserunning's on my mind this year a lot," Judge said. "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 game's changed with the pickoffs and the pitch clock, I think that's one way we can utilize, or at least I can utilize some of my skills a little bit more, getting into scoring position. With the lineup we have, this was probably the best offense in all of baseball last year. If I can find a way to get myself in scoring position, if they're going to walk me or do something, then some good things are going to happen."

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Judge stole 12 bases in 2025 and has 65 steals in his career.

He's now slow by any means, but it can also take a little bit to get his 6-foot-7, 282-pound frame up to full speed.

His career-high in stolen bases is the 16 he nabbed in 2022 in 19 attempts.

He went 10-for-10 stealing in 2024, picking his spots well.

In 2025, he was 12-for-17.

Overall, he's 65-for-86.

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Judge obviously doesn't need to steal a ton more, especially if it increases injury risk. 

He'd much rather launch the ball out of the ballpark and put up an OPS over 1.000, which he has done each of the past four seasons.

But a few extra steals sound like a decent plan. Judge is certainly intelligent enough on the baseball field to take an extra base here and there.

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