Aaron Judge has been incredible for the Yankees.
Since the reigns of the Yankees passed from George Steinbrenner to Hal Steinbrenner, one of the points of emphasis was to address the way things had been done. The farm system was, for a long time, seen by the Yankees and fans as a way to trade for the best players in the game, and then those players would be paid highly for their services. The luxury tax was just a number that ownership was just fine with paying for success. Hal Steinbrenner began that change and Brian Cashman has been able to deliver on that process, obtaining many top prospects from other organizations for rentals and keeping the team competitive with good young players with team-friendly contracts.
The rebuilding process is starting to pay dividends, and the real question is whether or not the team can continue this success.
1st Story: Aaron Judge.
There really couldn’t be a story series about the Yankees without a story about this guy. This behemoth is what many people might imagine Babe Ruth looked like if they didn’t know baseball’s history. For reference, Babe Ruth, according to Baseball Reference, is listed at 6-2, 215 lbs. He wasn’t really a small man; Aaron Judge stands at 6-8, 282 lbs. Giancarlo Stanton, another slugger heralded for his power, is listed at 6-6, 245. Judge is at an almost unprecedented size and strength level.
He’s likely not going to continue the pace he’s currently on, slashing .319/.419/.687, with a projection around 50 HR. However, it’s incredibly fun to watch this man-child, who’s only 25, take swings against the best. Maybe one day, as a promotion, the Yankees will let him use a metal bat in BP and see if he can hit the ball over the upper deck of the grand stands.
2nd Story: What type of player is Gary Sanchez?
It’s almost easy to forget that last year, there was an incredible buzz around another Yankee youngster, Gary Sanchez. Setting the league a blaze with his incredible stretch of 20 HR’s in 229 PA, he almost won Rookie of the year in 53 games.
This year has not been as kind to Sanchez. There’s been a regression, which I believe everyone expected. The thing is, it’s not quite going how one might think. His batting average on balls in play, BABIP, is actually identical at this point to what it was in 2016 during his run. The big changes between 2016 and 2017, CH%, change up percentage, and SL%, slider percentage.
Both of the previously mentioned pitch percentage stats are up a significant amount in 2017. Sanchez has seen an increase of about 5% in sliders faced, as well as about a 2% increase of changeups faced. Both of these figures have likely had an effect on his hit percentages. Sanchez has also seen an increase in both Soft %, soft contact percentage, and Med %, medium contact percentage. These stats are up 2% and 4%, respectively. That means that some of the fly balls last year that might have found their way out are now falling short of the wall. It’s likely that Sanchez is simply having some bad luck as well.
Sanchez will likely level out to become a player of 20-25 HR, and maintaining as solid .270-.290 average as he sees more off-speed pitches and makes the necessary adjustments.
3rd Story: Can the rotation keep the Yankees atop the division?
So far, the Yankees are on top of the AL East. The Yankees starting pitching has been able to hold opposing hitters to a very solid .229 BA, and currently, holds a 3.74 ERA. This is despite the “ace,” Masahiro Tanaka, having a rough start to his 2017. After being able to go 14-5 with a 3.07 ERA in 2016, Tanaka is struggling, with a 5-4 record and 5.86 ERA. CC Sabathia is having a decent start to the year as well, with a 5-2 record despite an ERA over 4.
The re-emergence of Michael Pineda and further development of Luis Severino has been a great lift to the Yankees, considering both of the Win Probabilities are higher than Tanaka and Sabathia.
If these pitchers can maintain the status quo at the least, and improve in a few areas to reduce the runners that score, they Yankees are likely to stay on top of the AL East, at the very least battling for a Wild Card spot the entire year.
