Hal Steinbrenner broke a bit of news on Thursday when he said the Yankees had a players-only meeting at some point within the last few days.
Steinbrenner said it wasn’t the first one of the year, but was the most “fiery” meeting of the year.
Aaron Judge told reporters before Friday’s Subway Series matchup with the Mets that he’s the one who called the meeting.
“Just some things on my mind, some things I’ve been seeing over the course of the year,” Judge said. “Usually around the All-Star break is the time where you usually have a meeting, and guys kind of address things going into the second half, the first half’s over with, but I felt like there were some things that couldn’t wait till the All-Star break to get brought up.”
Not only did Judge feel like the meeting was necessary, but he feels it has helped.
“It was a good time for a lot of us to be honest with each other. Maybe some things on our minds, some things that guys have been hearing, things that guys have been thinking, but just kind of a chance to open up the floor for everybody. When you’re in a clubhouse, we’re all brothers in there. We’re family all the best teams I’ve been on, you’re able to say what you need to say to somebody and not let somebody’s feelings get hurt, but it was a good meeting. It was a lot of emotion, but I think overall it was great for the team…
“When you’re the one that calls the meeting, you gotta have something good to say. But overall, I think it was good. A lot of good things were said, a lot of guys spoke up, and it was, I think, overall good for us.”
It’s unknown when the meeting took place, but the Yankees have scored 19 runs in their last two games, so it’s safe to assume that the meeting happened before Wednesday’s gut-wrenching loss, despite them dropping eight runs on Wednesday night.
“Sure enough, we go out there, score a lot of runs, having better at-bats, and overall, better quality of games, so I think it’s gonna help us in the long run,” Judge said.
When asked what he said in the meeting, Judge said he would keep it in the clubhouse and that “we’d be here for a long time.”
The Yankees are coming off losing two out of three to the Los Angeles Angels and face the Mets this weekend for a three-game set in the Bronx.