Yankees Fans have been very upset with the Teams recent Struggles. The team has played to a below .500 record the last 8 weeks going 22-24 in 46 games.
The recent struggles of the team has led to the fans trying to find someone to blame unfortunately.
Since Gallo has been traded the rage has been designated to Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Which is a bit misdirected.
I get IKF is not elite defensively but he has been serviceable and pretty consistent with barely any peaks and valleys.
He has 6 DRS which is a 16 run improvement from Gleyber who has -10 DRS last year.
Many have turned to Baseball Savant’s metric to shape their narrative. IKF is a -2 in Outs Above Average but that 8 OAA improvement from Gleybers -10. IKF ranks 4th in hits, 4th in batting average, and 5th in doubles.
People seem to not realize nothing has changed. He has been the same player all year and from 2021. So what happened to the clutch hitting SS who tied many games. Well that’s where I present you the real problem. After DJ and Judge the middle of the Order has been awful.
Rizzo while having clutch moments is only hitting .235 with runners in scoring position and .258 with runners in scoring position.
But the glaring issue with Rizzo is the .198 AVG/.322 OBP with no runners on.
That has led to Rallies dying when Judge clears the bases with his continued homerun barage of a season.
So Rizzo can’t be counted on to start a rally with those numbers. Stanton has been injured and had an abysmal 2 months in June-July. Stanton hit a combined. 167 AVG/.277 OBP. Simply horrible and currently sits at .228 AVG/.309 OBP. Nexy, Gleyber Torres and Donaldson have a .306 OBP each.
While Torres is hitting. 252 AVG. He is struggling mightily with runners in scoring position with a .198 AVG. Donaldson after a very good month of May lost his swag and his swing. Since the WhiteSox series he has been as bad as Joey Gallo.
Hicks is another one who actually gets on base well but doesn’t get hits when needed. So while Joey Gallo has been traded. It hasn’t made much of a difference to the lineup because the 3,4,5, & 6 hitters have become their own versions of Joey Gallo. Yankees middle of the order IS the problem.
They need to get it together as a collective because if they don’t it will be another short Postseason exit. Another wasted season. So Yankee fans understand IKF is NOT the problem. He has played his expected role of solid defense with timely hits. It’s the middle of the order who has performed and given him the baserunners needed for his timely hits. It’s not looking good, and it time for Rizzo, Stanton, Torres, Donaldson and Hicks to pull their weight because we have relied too much on Judge, DJ, Trevino, IKF, and the now injured Matt Carpenter.
