Aaron Judge Blocks Gary Sheffield Jr on X: Yankees Captain Is Thin Skinned Right Now
Aaron Judge is out with a fractured rib, the Yankees are stuck in neutral, and the captain apparently has time to run his own block list on X.
Gary Sheffield Jr., son of the nine-time All Star Gary Sheffield, revealed Friday that Judge had blocked him. Sheffield Jr. is a Yankees fan. His father played for the Yankees from 2004 to 2006. So the block hits a little different than a normal internet spat.
Sheffield Jr. did not go quietly.
“Aaron Judge should spend more time getting this team over the hump than he is on Twitter blocking Yankees fans,” Sheffield wrote on X.
He was probably blocked over a recent post suggesting Judge needs to be a more vocal leader in the Yankees clubhouse. That is a fair thing to argue right now. New York has been sliding without him, and Judge has been noticeably quiet in interviews about the state of the roster.
Whether Judge personally clicked the block button is another question. Plenty of stars let a team manage their accounts. But if he did do it himself, that is a bad look for a captain in the middle of a losing stretch.
The Yankees are averaging 4.16 runs per game without Judge, which ranks eighth worst in the league. They lost 2-1 to the Dodgers on Friday and continue to look nothing like the team that won the AL pennant two years ago. That is the actual story of Judge’s rehab summer, and it is why fans like Sheffield Jr. are getting louder.
Judge has been shut down since May 31. The last MRI showed some healing but not enough to resume baseball activities. He is still doing lower body work only, and there is no timetable for his return.
Yankees fans have every right to be frustrated. The team was built around one player, and that player has been on the shelf for two months while the AL East slips further out of reach. Blocking one of them, even one who calls himself out for punditry, is not the response of a leader who wants to inspire a comeback.
Sheffield Jr. is not exactly a normal critic. He carries his father’s name and knows what a Yankees clubhouse is supposed to look like. He also has a following of his own on X and a platform to say things most fans cannot. So a block from Judge only amplifies him.
There is a version of this that is meaningless. Athletes block accounts all the time. But the timing here matters. The Yankees are in trouble. The captain is hurt. And instead of showing up in the clubhouse or on camera to lead, he is quietly deleting critics from his feed.
Judge remains one of the most respected players in the sport. His numbers, when healthy, are historic. But even MVPs can look small when they respond to criticism by clicking a button instead of by picking up a bat.
The Yankees need him back. They also need him bigger than this.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
