The Yankee bats are struggling.
Let that sit for a minute - because what I said may sound surprising, given right at this moment the Yankees have the best record in baseball (42-19 - .689 Win %), and are 8-2 in their last ten games.
But it's true - the bats are slumping. Many of these wins have been a combination of both luck and good pitching. The last ten games, nine of them were against teams with a losing record. Yes, the Yankees won most of those games - but did they blow these teams away? Only in three of these games did the offense put up more than 5-runs - and one of them they didn't score their first run until the 7th inning (vs. Toronto - June 5th, the Yankees were held scoreless until Andujar's Grand Slam in the 7th inning).
Outside of the two rookies - which Yankee's regular is hot right now? Can you name any? Gardner was hot for a while, but even he's starting to cool a little. Here are where the regulars stand in their last 7 games:
Brett Gardner - .286 AVG (8 for 28) 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2BB, 3 R, 4 K
Aaron Judge - .115 AVG (3 for 26) 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 2 R, 13 K
Giancarlo Stanton - .214 AVG (6 for 28) 3 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 5 R, 11 K
Greg Bird - .154 AVG (4 for 26) 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 R, 7 K
Gary Sanchez - .069 AVG (2 for 29) 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 BB, 3 R, 10 K
Didi Gregorius - .259 AVG (7 for 27) 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 5 R, 3 K
Miguel Andujar - .435 (10 for 23) 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 3 R, 0 K
Gleyber Torres - .200 (5 for 25) 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 R, 8 K
Aaron Hicks - .300 (6 for 20) 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 4 R, 7 K
Cumulatively that is a .220 AVG (51 for 232). Remove Hicks, Gardner and Andujar - the remainder is .168 AVG (27 for 161) - yuck!
Outside of Andujar, Hicks, and Gardner - those numbers are terrible! Now, I know 7 games is just a small sample size - but these games were against BAD teams! How can you expect to win the division continuing this kind of play? They have a tough schedule coming up (17 games in 16 days), closing out the month against actual contending teams - except the Rays (Washington, Seattle and Boston) - these are professional hitters and I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they will start to come around at any time now. And, luckily the trend of this season has been that they play very well against teams with winning records, but that is thanks largely to the pitching staff. Yes, they have been close games and a lot of them have gone in the Yankees' favor - but for how much longer?
And if you are lobbying for Tyler Austin, Neil Walker, Austin Romine, and Ronald Torreyes to get more playing time, I personally don't think that would help much. In their last 7 games:
Tyler Austin - .074 AVG (2 for 27) 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 R, 17 K
Neil Walker - .214 AVG (6 for 28) 2 HR, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 5 R, 6 K - has not played since June 4th
Austin Romine - .381 AVG (8 for 21) 3 HR, 10 RBI, 4 BB, 6 R, 3 K
Ronald Torreyes - .227 AVG (5 for 22) 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 R, 5 K - has only played in 1 game since being recalled from AAA
Romine has been playing well, and I would even go as far to suggest that Boone ride out the hot hand - but then you're not giving Sanchez at-bats - and the only way you can break out of a slump is to keep going out there and work on making solid contact. I am actually surprise Tyler Austin is still with the team... those numbers are not good, I would personally send him to AAA and bring back Brandon Drury. Have Neil Walker be your back-up 1B, since he's a switch hitter and Drury can get at-bats filling in the infield and outfield.
I feel bad for Brandon Drury - he was traded to New York to start the season as the regular Third Baseman, but due to migraine issues, he had landed on the DL. This would prove fortunate for Andujar, giving him a shot as the regular third baseman. Unfortunately for Drury, Andujar has been on fire all season - leaving him as the odd man out. Since coming of the DL, Drury has been hitting very well in AAA (.321/2HR/12RBI) - but he is in the same boat as Clint Frazier right now, the Yankees have too much depth. I would love to see Drury AND Frazier in the lineup - but where do you put them?
The pitching staff is starting to fall apart. Granted, the performance has been solid of late - much of the reason as to why they are in first place, and have the best record in baseball. But, in the last week Jordan Montgomery was lost for the remainder of the season AND much of next season, and Tanaka is out for at least 10 days. Leaving the rotation with Severino (who has been assembling a Cy Young season), a CC Sabathia that has pitched okay, and an inconsistent Sonny Gray. Domingo German has pitched okay in Montgomery's place (he's gotten better in just about each start) - but can he continue that for the rest of the season? Who will they bring in while Tanaka is on the DL?
The rumor mill is already churning between who will make Tanaka's next start - some speculate rising star Jonathan Loaisiga is being prepared for a call-up from AA Trenton (he's already on the 40-man roster). Others think it might just be a spot start for the likes of A.J. Cole or David Hale and on the rare account, some think it's time for Justus Sheffield to be called up.
Loaisiga has had a very solid season thus far, and has been rising through the ranks - he was pulled from his last start after throwing 49 pitches and replaced by a fellow starter, usually means that it's a tune-up start prior to being called up. I'd be interested to see if the Yankees call him up, skipping AAA - personally I would prefer they take a different route.
In a perfect world - if Chance Adams was pitching well this season, I would like to see the Yankees call him up. But Adams has not. I have been hoping the Yankees would call him up last season, but there's clearly something the organization is looking for from him that he has not delivered yet. In the offseason, Adams had surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow and hasn't quite been the same since. So far this year in AAA, he's pitching to a 5.43 ERA - YIKES. To me, it's safe to say Adams will not be called up - however, maybe a call-up could be the motivation he needs to right the ship?
The other option is to call-up top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield. The lefty had just recently come off the Disabled List and since then has made four starts. This season he is pitching to a 2.60 ERA, and many think he could be the 6th starter. I would love to see him called up. If he's effective, it would be nice to have another lefty in the rotation with Sabathia (CC would make an excellent mentor for the young Sheffield). Sheffield and Tanaka are on the on the same schedule, so if they do decide to use Justus, it would not mess with his routine. He's not on the 40-man roster, so somebody would have to be DFA'd (Cole or Hale I'm guessing?) - but it would be nice to see some more homegrown youth infused into the starting rotation.
It seems like this upcoming slew of games will be a good test for the offense, or a good motivation to get things going again. These are all good hitters, and I doubt that they will be down for long. The only hitter I am really worried about is Sanchez, but we have seen him go on hot streaks before. I'm no professional hitting coach - but he just looks lost at the plate. He makes decent contact here and there, but he just hasn't been able to string good at-bats together and get hot. Stanton and Judge I am not worried about - they seem to feed off each other. And Greg Bird... he's still trying to find his wings (see what I did there?) But seriously, he's only played in 12 games since coming back from foot surgery. Twelve, people - cut him some slack, he's a good hitter, and there's a reason they see him as the every day first baseman.
Anyways, the Yankees start a 6-game home stand tonight against the First Place Washington Nationals (36-27) [In case you are wonderingThey make-up the suspended game and the postponed game in Washington next Monday - June 18th]. The projected starters are as follows:
Tuesday 06/12: NYY (CC Sabathia, 3-1, 3.59 ERA) vs. WAS (Tanner Roark, 3-6, 3.56 ERA)
Wednesday 06/13: NYY (Sonny Gray, 4-4, 4.81 ERA) vs. WAS (TBD)
The Nationals have not announced who will start Wednesday's game yet, so that should be interesting. This will be a good litmus test for Sonny Gray - who's coming off one of his best starts as a Yankee against Toronto. Hopefully, he can continue the progress he has made against a much more potent Nationals lineup.
Bryce Harper is still struggling this season - maybe this is good for teams that will be pursuing him in the offseason. He's hitting at a .228/.360/.869 clip this season (5 for 28, .179 AVG in his last 7 games) and the National lineup will also offer​ a cooled off Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon. The Nationals are 5-5 in their last 10 games, and are basically tied in first with the surprising Atlanta Braves. I don't know about you, but you have to believe the Yankees caught a break not having to face Max Scherzer.
What are your thoughts on the Subways Series? I didn't talk much about that - but I feel like the series speaks for itself. The Yankees faced the Mets best pitchers (except Syndergaard) and came away with the series win. It was nice to see Todd Frazier - and he did a good job of reminding Yankee fans that he still plays in New York. They dropped the series finale though, in a game they probably should have won... what was your take-away?
What do you think about the slumping bats?
What do you think the Yankees will do to fill in the rotation spot?
Also, this just in - Jacoby Ellsbury is still hurt... surprised?
Please share your thoughts! I'd love to hear what you the reader has to say!