Why Aaron Judge may soon be getting ‘Barry Bonds treatment’

Aaron Boone said if Aaron Judge continues to hit at his current pace, he may get a bit of the “Barry Bonds treatment,” with opposing teams choosing to walk him intentionally rather than watch him do more damage.

“There will be stretches where that probably happens,’’ Boone said before Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Reds in The Bronx.

Perhaps the better question is why it hasn’t started already, especially with the Yankees lineup in disarray beyond Judge and Juan Soto.

On Wednesday, though, Judge was set up to tie the game — or more — with runners on the corners and one out in the seventh inning and hit into an inning-ending double play against right-hander Fernando Cruz.

The grounder to third traveled at 106 mph, but still ended the Yankees’ best chance to erase the deficit.

It was a rare off night at the plate for Judge, who may see teams pitch him more carefully, something Boone noted they did frequently during the latter part of his historic 2022 season, when parts of the offense was slumping.