In 2023, the Yankees’ young players are leading a silent transformation of the team, which remained obsessed with power and focused just on the long ball.
For years, the Yankees assumed power was the key to their dominance. But last season, it started falling apart and got worse as the year went on. Even fans, players, and baseball pundits began talking about the overdependence on power. Most interestingly, Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo, and Giancarlo Stanton, who were the team’s best power hitters, were the ones who got them going.
The Yankees’ realization
They thought that the Yankees had to have power as one of their skills and the name Bronx Bombers was meaningless without big-hitting ability. But then the Astros knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs for a third time. The teams that beat the Yankees every year had a more well-rounded skill group and could play baseball better. They didn’t just win by brute force, especially when that part of the game was shut down.
So, Judge, Rizzo, and Stanton led talks among the players, then with the coaches, and finally with the upper management. It pushed for change. The 2023 Yankees team made it a priority to have a wider range of skills.
According to Dillon Lawson, the hitting coach, all the batters now meet every two weeks to talk about their wins and failures. The Yankees‘ trademark is the three-run homer, but they now agree that it can’t be the only trademark or the only way to score runs, especially when the scoreboard says that baserunning skills or putting the ball in play are needed.
“That’s something I’ve been pushing for a while just about just trying to be more athletic,” Judge said. “To get more guys in the lineup that are different hitters; and it’s not all the same hitter. I feel like in years past we’ve kind of had the same hitter over and over and over and pitchers cane get into a routine of pitching guys the exact same way. Sure we want power. But you also want to spread the ball around the field more and make it for the opposing team to play you, especially in the postseason — to make the opposing pitcher have to game plan for nine different types of players.”
The game-changer trio
This brings us to the Yankees’ 8-9-1 batting order on Saturday, when they beat Toronto 3-2. The lineup had Anthony Volpe, 22, Oswald Peraza, 23, and Oswaldo Cabrera, 24. These three home-grown talents continue to contribute to and anchor the team’s winning. They are the best chance for the Yankees to make their already strong defense even better and give their attack more options.
Alek Manoah, the starter for Toronto, kept the Yankees from getting any hits for the first seven innings. The only hit they did get was a double by Cabrera with one out in the fourth inning. He came in third. Peraza took second by walking. Volpe struck out in the most important at-bat of the game. But the Yankees like Volpe and the other two players in this trio for more than just their skills. They are active, and excited and have shown that they can be tough.
When Volpe won the shortstop job in spring training, Peraza did not get upset. He went to minor league camp right away, even though he didn’t have to. He made more good memories and has been great on both sides of the ball since he was called up last Monday. On Saturday, with two outs and no runs in the eighth inning, he hit a single. And Volpe wasn’t scared by the big miss he had early on. After Peraza’s hit, he hit his second home run in the big leagues. It was the first time he hit a home run into the short right-field porch, and it was also his first curtain call.
It’s not that the three won’t be able to use power, but it is a set of skills. Volpe has been great on defense, stealing bases 8 times out of 8. He has also made base in 10 straight games. He is now the first batter, and he might stay there for a decade or more.
Cabrera’s hitting is getting better, but even when he was struggling, he moved all over the field and played well everywhere.
Gerrit Cole was so impressed that he said, “I am in awe of a player who can move anywhere on the field and play defense the way he does.”
Peraza didn’t lose his position as shortstop as much as Volpe did. And now that Josh Donaldson is out for who knows how long, Peraza might make it hard to take him out of the lineup.
“I think that their development through our system has been great,” Cole said. “They’re just true ballplayers in every sense of the word. They’re connected to their teammates. They’re connected to the situational aspects of the game. They’re able to take advantage of all the luxuries that we have as a major league player at this at this age to try to hone their craft, but at the same time, not losing sense of just basic things that put you in a position to win a lot of ballgames. I think all of them have a tremendous feel for that.”
After the Blue Jays tied the game in the top of the ninth, the Yankees scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. None of the three young players played a part in this. But that run was made in a way that will be a big deal at these talks every two weeks. Rizzo started the game with a double to the opposite field, Gleyber Torres got on base with a single through the infield, and pinch-runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa ran fast to third when no one was there to stop him. Willie Calhoun took a walk to get the runners on base. And against a five-man infield, DJ LeMahieu hit a grounder to left field for the game-winning RBI. He didn’t hit any home runs, but he also didn’t swing at any of Jordan Romano’s 11 pitches.
Youngblood improves Yankees’ survivability
Even though the Yankees are close to 100 wins, their team is in survival mode because of injuries. Before the weekend, the Yankees were the only team that hadn’t lost a series in 2023. They had won two of three games in each of their five three-game series and split a four-game set with the Twins. They will have a chance to win the three-game set against the Blue Jays on Sunday.
The Yankees have done well in their series so far because they have kept runs from scoring. This is mostly because of Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, the length of their bullpen, and their above-average defense. The Yankees and the Rays are tied for the most games in which they gave up three runs or less. In those games, the Rays were 14-0 and the Yankees were 13-1.
But it has more to do with an attack that hasn’t been consistent, even though they are among the best in MLB at home runs and stealing bases. The order has been hurt by not having enough players with long arms, too many swings and misses, and a low batting average.
As of Saturday, these players were mostly used in left field and as backups. Their OPS-plus was as follows: Franchy Cordero (108), Oswaldo Cabrera (60), Willie Calhoun (16), Aaron Hicks (2), and Isiah Kiner-Falefa (8). The league average is 100. When you add in the catchers, the Yankees have a lot of outs every day at the end of their game.
Cordero hit four home runs, but he has too many hits and misses to be trusted for an entire season. Boone says he backs Hicks, but he only started seven of the 20 games he played in. Boone has also said that the crowd’s boos don’t bother Hicks, but the numbers speak for themselves. This year, Hicks was 0 for 13 at Yankee Stadium.
Even though there aren’t many left-handed batters, the Yankees’ right-handed batters just haven’t hit lefties yet. The Yankees’ batting average against southpaws was.201, and their slugging percentage was.306.
Aaron Judge (1-for-15) and DJ LeMahieu (1-for-14) did the most wrong. Cabrera, Donaldson, and Trevino were the only ones to hit home runs. Even though they have only had 177 at-bats against left-handed pitchers as a team, the way their lineup is set up means they should beat opponents who choose to throw southpaws.
Strikeout rates, which had been near all-time highs at 22.8, haven’t changed much because of the new rules. The MLB batting average went up two points to.245 and the on-base percentage went up nine points to.321. The Yankees, on the other hand, went down in both categories (from.237 to.229 and from .322 to.313) because their strikeout rate of 24.5 percent (as of Saturday) would tie their 2021 team record.
The Yankees scored 4.38 runs per game, which was below the league average. This was partly because they hit 29 home runs, but Anthony Volpe’s two-run shot on Saturday was only their 10th with runners on base.
Judge will always strike out, but he was doing it in 33.7 percent of his at-bats, which is a lot. Cordero’s score was 28.9%. LeMahieu was at 29.4, and he was one of the best contact hitters of this age. Cabrera’s score was 27.3% and Volpe’s was 28.2%. Especially Volpe, the last two batters could still be learning how to hit in the big leagues. Because their hits have been so much better as of late.
But Yankees love one thing Volpe’s sharp eye that brings walks.
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