Webb vs Judge: Low-Away Needle

0:00On March 25, Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants faces a tough test right away in the 2026 MLB season opener on Wednesday night against New York Yankee slugger Aaron Judge. The two are teammates from the World Baseball Classic, but Judge has owned Webb so far, going three for seven with a double and two home runs, all on. Pitches right down the middle. Webb relies heavily on sinkers and changeups to get ground balls, but those center strikes have burned him. Last year, batter's hit just 2.99 and slugged 4.41 on his low strikes in the bottom third of the zone, which wasn't elite. Meanwhile, any fastball over the plate spells danger against power hitters like Judge. Judge crushed in-zone fastballs last season with a 9.64 slugging percentage, the best mark in the past 16 years among players facing, at least 2,000 pitches. That's more than double the league average of 467. He holds the top 3 spots in that staff from recent years, showing why pictures stay away.

1:00The good news for Webb is, he retired Judge four times before, three on strikeouts, all with changeups and sweepers buried in the bottom far corner of. The zone. Judge slug just 4.71 down there, compared to 9.64 everywhere else in the strike zone last year. Pitches who thread that tiny low away needle, keep Judge and check, so expect Webb to live there and avoid the heart of the plate if he wants to keep. The Yankee Star part. From around the league, powered by AI, this is MLB News today.