TAMPA — I want to address an inaccuracy.
Last year’s Yankees offense was bad.
Don’t get me wrong. Admittedly, the Yankees’ offense last year was terrible.
However, there were many times last season when it seemed like the offense had fallen off a high cliff. The truth is, the Yankees’ offense has been pretty bad the past three seasons.
They were 19th out of 30 teams in points per game in 2021. Last year he was 25th. For those who want to act like they did in 2023, the Yankees had an unusual record of finishing second in 2022.
But it was based on how baseball is the most like basketball I’ve ever seen — one player, Aaron Judge, carried the offense like Allen Iverson of the Larry Brown 76ers. It’s about the time. Now, excuse me for another basketball analogy. But to say the Yankees won’t explain how he averaged 4.98 points per game in 2022 and how he got there is that Wilt Chamberlain and Al Attles played for the Philadelphia Warriors on March 2, 1962. It’s like saying that he scored a total of 117 points.
Judge’s OPS of 1.111 that season was the Yankees’ best since Mickey Mantle’s Triple Crown campaign in 1956, and the rest of the team’s OPS was .708, a record set by Billy Martin in 1956. This especially worsened in the second half as Judge built towards a historic 62 wins. His home runs and almost single-handedly helped the Yankees retain the AL East title with a 1.286 OPS, while the rest of the team posted a .652 mark, fourth-worst after the All-Star break.
Want to know the total for the past three seasons? Judge boasts the best OPS in MLB at 1.017 (Shohei Ohtani’s .964 is second). The Yankees’ batting average for the remainder of 2021-2023 is .698, which would rank sixth among all teams (per MLB Network research), minus 15 at-bats for pitchers.
Yankees officials hope to create an alibi for last season’s away injuries, especially the unusual one that limited Judge to 106 games and Anthony Rizzo to 99 games. ing. But injuries are generally a weak excuse, especially considering the Astros’ two games. Their most offensive players, Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve, played in only 114 and 90 games, respectively, but Houston still averaged the fifth-most points per game and managed to reach Game 7 of the ALCS. did.
The Yankees dramatically tried to shake off their one-man band reputation by trading for Juan Soto. If the combination of Judge and Soto remains healthy, the Yankees should at least be a top-10 offensive line again. But the Yanks believe they are more than a one-two punch.
“We have a chance to be an outstanding offense,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve maintained that from the beginning, especially after a season where we struggled offensively. Of course, we have to stay healthy and stay focused. But we have elite I feel like there’s an opportunity to be offensive.”
There are three keys to a complete attack.
1. Age: DJ LeMahieu (age 35), Anthony Rizzo (age 34) and Giancarlo Stanton (age 34) have had injury concerns, including LeMahieu (injury alert) in spring training this year, who threw the ball with his right foot. This includes the fact that he fouled out and his inclusion in the starting lineup for the opening game is in doubt. With Josh Donaldson and Evan Longoria no longer playing, LeMahieu is now the oldest regular third baseman in the game.
Rizzo suffers from back pain, and although she said it doesn’t bother her, she has chronic back problems. Stanton has looked great physically this spring, but he has appeared on the IL eight times over the past five seasons.
Rizzo was great before his concussion last year. LeMahieu had a strong run into 2023 after a change in hitting coach and further recovery from a foot injury. Stanton has legs now and isn’t just swinging with his upper body. That’s the optimistic view of the group surrounding Soto and Judge.
2. Youth: Anthony Volpe has modified his swing to better deal with the upper fastball, using the entire field and achieving a .207 average and 27.8 strikeout rate. The Yankees believe this version will allow him to increase his batting average and walk rate and make better use of his legs. Catcher Austin Wells continued to impress upon the Yankees that his defensive deficiencies were either exaggerated or simply wrong. If so, he could use his left-handed power. Let him establish an OPS of .725 as a baseline for both. Anything beyond that is a positive move for this lineup.
3. Left-handed: The team, which plays in the house that Ruth built and has a pedigree that includes Gehrig, Mantle, Reggie and Mattingly, hasn’t even finished in the top 10 in OPS for left-handed pitchers since 2012. The Yanks have no left-handed pitcher ranked higher than 22nd. He has been at bat the past six seasons. In 2023, their left-handed pitchers received the second-fewest at-bats, posting a .217 batting average and 673 OS (27th out of 30).
The Yankees acquired Soto, Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham, and their total plate appearances last season (1,865) exceeded the Yankees’ total plate appearances from left-handed pitchers since 2018. Wells should play regularly. Can the Yankees sign switch-hitter Oswaldo Cabrera for the 2022 season? Will Jason Dominguez be able to recover from Tommy John surgery? Is Spencer Jones on the horizon?
