THE YANKEES’ OFFENSE IS BEING DRAGGED DOWN BY 3 PLAYERS
The Yankees still maintain one of the best statistical offenses in baseball, but over the past few weeks, their rankings in multiple categories have begun to deteriorate. The bottom half of their order has been a detriment to their production, and aside from the usual culprits, three players have been dragging down their offensive production recently.
The Yankees’ Offense is Being Dragged Down:
It is important to remember that a number of pieces are currently featuring in starting positions with players like Giancarlo Stanton still rehabilitating from injury. However, it’s crucial to note that General Manager Brian Cashman will likely be acquiring a few starting-level players at the deadline in late July.
Oswaldo Cabrera’s Slump
As much as we love Oswaldo Cabrera and his personality, he’s unfortunately a very poor offensive player. Over 66 games and 215 plate appearances this season, Cabrera is hitting .230/.274/.340, including a 20% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate. Despite his red-hot start to the season, Cabrera has regressed to the mean, and that is a well below-average hitter.
The Yankees simply cannot sustain this level of production at the bottom half of the order, but Cabrera is far from the only player holding them back. On Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds, Cabrera struck out once over three at-bats and failed to make an impact, in fact, he has just one hit in his last three games, watching his on-base percentage continue to plummet.
Trent Grisham’s Struggles
With Stanton struggling to get healthy following a hamstring pull, the Yankees have had Trent Grisham playing almost daily to offset his loss. Unfortunately, Grisham is far from the offensive player that Stanton is, hitting .165/.287/.365, including five homers and 14 RBIs over 42 games. Grisham hosts a 32.4% strikeout rate, 12.7% walk rate, and 90 wRC+.
While Grisham is a solid defensive player who actually made a bad error on Thursday against Cincinnati, he is also dragging the bottom half of the batting order down, and the Yankees can’t get Stanton back fast enough.
DJ LeMahieu’s Decline
Speaking of lackluster contributions, 35-year-old DJ LeMahieu is hitting .183/.280/.204, including nine RBIs, a 16.7% strikeout rate, and a 12% walk rate. LeMahieu has a 49 wRC+, indicating he’s 51% worse than the average MLB player. He’s now cracked 100 plate appearances and 29 games this season, so we can now say the sample is large enough to suggest he may be regressing due to age.
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If LeMahieu doesn’t turn things around quickly, the Yankees will have to find a player to start in his place since he can’t be an everyday option in the infield any longer. He’s better off serving as the team’s primary utility man, but it is evident that Cashman has his hands full finding a starting caliber second baseman or third baseman to boost the offense.
While we only named three players in this list, you could easily throw in Gleyber Torres and Anthony Volpe‘s recent stretch of poor performance. Aside from Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, not to mention a sprinkle of Ben Rice, the batting order has become a big problem.
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2024-07-05T14:33:18Z dg43tfdfdgfd