Stephen A. Smith doesn’t often talk baseball on his programs, and that’s because it’s a weak spot for him. His comments on Wednesday confirmed baseball is still a rough topic for the ESPN personality.
Smith was talking on ESPN show “First Take” Wednesday with Chris Russo, who loves baseball. The two were debating who is having the more impressive season between Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.
Smith argued against Judge by saying part of the slugger’s success with the New York Yankees this season is thanks to having lineup protection from Juan Soto.
“But you do got Juan Soto batting behind you. They can’t get around you a little bit. They gotta pitch to the brother, because you’ve got Soto waiting in the wings. So all of those things facilitate Aaron Judge being who he is,” Smith said on the show.
There is only one (big) problem with Smith’s argument: it’s completely incorrect. Soto bats in front of Judge, not the other way around. One could argue that Soto is having such a big season — a 1.019 OPS — in part because he is being protected by Judge.
Soto has never batted behind Judge all season.
You can watch Smith’s comments in case you don’t believe them:
Stephen A. Smith said that Juan Soto hitting behind Aaron Judge plays a role in why Judge’s numbers are so good pic.twitter.com/kBkwrzDssO
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 28, 2024
By the way, Judge entered Wednesday leading the league in home runs (51), RBIs (122), on-base percentage (.465), slugging percentage (.732) and OPS (1.197). It’s hard to dominish any of what he has done.
