TAMPA — At the end of last season, Aaron Judge called out the need for the Yankees to improve the way they provide analytics to their players.
Hal Steinbrenner has the answer to that.
Steinbrenner announced Thursday that the Yankees have added Aaron Lienhart to the major league coaching staff as an analyst. This was a concern for Judge and Gerrit Cole, as this person would be in the clubhouse to help with how information is presented to the players.
“[Leanhardt] He was incredibly analytically savvy and smart, but he was also a coach,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s great to work with people, and it’s great to explain things and teach things and listen to what the other people have to say. The judge has already met with him one-on-one for an hour or two and we’ve worked together. I work with him and I like him.
“So he’s going to be a great addition. There’s so many questions about significant changes, significant changes. We’re introducing new people to the clubhouse. As far as I’m concerned, this is a big It’s a change.”
Leenhart, who earned his doctorate in physics from MIT and spent seven years as a physics professor at the University of Michigan, is in his seventh season with the Yankees.
He served as the club’s assistant minor league hitting coordinator for the past two years after serving as a hitting coach with three lower-level affiliates.
Leenhart also previously worked as a hitting coach at Dawson Community College in Montana.
The analyst role is not new to the Yankees, having previously been held by Zach Fierro.
With Aaron Boone in the final year of his contract (the Yankees have a club option for 2025), Steinbrenner addressed what he needs to ask Boone to get a new contract. refused.
“That’s something we’ll deal with once the season is over,” Steinbrenner said. “That’s not what I’m thinking about right now. There’s so much baseball.”
Juan Soto will make his first exhibition appearance as a Yankee on Sunday against the Blue Jays in the Grapefruit League’s home opener at Steinbrenner Field.
Clark Schmidt pitched two innings of live batting practice Thursday against Soto, Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Alex Verdugo, Gleyber Torres and Trent Grisham.
“I thought he was really sharp,” Boone said. “Content-wise it was really good. Clark hates to lose, so he likes playing against the big boys. It forces him to step it up a little bit. But I was really happy with the way he pitched today. doing.”
