Bomber Bits: Home Cookin’
Is Gary Sanchez on the brink of a turnaround? (Pinstripe Alley)
Hello everyone, welcome to the second biweekly “thoughts” column about all things Yankee and baseball related! This column will run towards the end of each week and cover a variety of free flowing topics. This week, we look at a streaking slugger, a near perfect game, and a visit to a milestone afternoon for the former Yankees captain.
State of the ‘Stripes
This section of the column will gauge the state of affairs for the Bronx Bombers. This week, we open with a look at how things have gone over the last two weeks of the season for the Yankees.
In our last “State of the Stripes”, we examined reasons for optimism after a 7-11 start for the Yankees. Since then, the team has gone 9-5 to bring their record back to .500 (it was a 9-3 record before the last two losses). They’ve won series against Cleveland, Detroit and Houston (hell yeah), while splitting four against Baltimore. The offense has been much improved since our last check in, with most of the struggling players taking a turn in the spotlight with a hot streak or timely hit. Giancarlo Stanton has been on fire the last few weeks, Aaron Judge carried the team during their series against Detroit, and even the homerless Gleyber Torres has hit above .300 in the last few series. However, the strength of this team has still been the pitching staff. The rotation has rounded into form - in the last two weeks, only Jameson Taillon has given up more than three runs in a start, and he merely gave up four. Gerrit Cole has looked otherworldly, Corey Kluber has started to regain his Cy Young talent, and the other three starters have pitched quality starts their last few times out. The bullpen has also been a major strength of this team, especially before Thursday. Regression was bound to happen, but that doesn’t discount the positive impact this group had for the majority of the season and will still have in future games. It helps to have a basically unhittable closer such as Aroldis Chapman.
When looking at the overall stats, the Yankees have improved dramatically in their offensive numbers - they now ranked 14th in OPS and 21st in runs scored, which is a far cry from two weeks ago, where they were last or second to last in the league in most offensive categories. They have hit the second most home runs in baseball, showing where their strength is. In the coming weeks, hopefully the run scoring can match the home run prowess. On the pitching side, the team ranks 6th in ERA and 2nd in the American League, a number that was a lot better before the pitchers gave up 18 runs over the last two games.
So have our expectations of the New York Yankees changed in the past two weeks? Well, it’s reassuring to know that they’re not the worst hitting team in baseball history, and offensive improvement combined with continued strong pitching has led to success for the Bombers. They haven’t faced the strongest competition, but taking three of four from Cleveland and two of three from the Astros is no joke. Next week will be a test for this team, as they head back to Tampa to take on the Rays, who humiliated them in their last series. This series will be a good indication of how the Yankees will fare in the coming weeks - will they overcome their demons against a club that’s had their number, or will they roll over at the first sign of trouble? Upcoming series against the Red Sox are looming, so it’s important that the Yankees continue their hot streak now to stay within striking distance of Boston for their showdowns in June and July.
Highlight Player of the Week
It’s hard to believe, but Giancarlo Stanton has actually been an above average hitter for his entire Yankees tenure. Before 2021, he batted .266/.353./.507 in three years with the team. Of course, the issue in 2019 and 2020 was not his hitting performance, but rather his ability to stay on the field. Over those two years, Stanton played in a total of 41 of 222 games due to various ailments. As long he’s been healthy, Stanton has raked as a hitter, especially adding in his stellar postseason play. Health has been the big question, but so far this year, Stanton has stayed on the field paradoxically by staying off it - primarily by playing DH. It has been a tale of two seasons for Stanton. During his first 15 games, he barely hit at all, batting .158/.238/.333 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI. Stanton was walking at a decent clip, but striking out too much, and most importantly, hitting too many balls on the ground. For a power hitter like Stanton, hitting the ball in the air is key, as it gives him the best chance at hitting home runs or doubles off the wall. When Stanton connects, he does so with authority, but it’s a lot easier to turn a ground ball hit 120 MPH into an out than it is a line drive or foul ball. Stanton’s slump coincided with the Yankees lineup collectively struggling, so it wasn’t as spotlighted as it could have been, but fans noticed - Stanton was probably booed more than any other player.
Since then, Stanton has become a different hitter. Before last night, he had a 12 game hitting streak during which he batted .481/.509/.904 with 6 home runs and 11 RBI - basically a Barry Bondsian stretch for Giancarlo. Every time Stanton connects with the baseball, it is absolutely scorched. It is a reminder that he is truly one of the most talented players of our generation. Consider this single, the hardest hit ball in MLB this year.
Or this home run, which Stanton hit on Thursday with little exertion and sailed into the right field bullpen.
Stanton is the exit velocity king - he leads baseball in average exit velocity on ground balls, line drives, and just any ball hit in general, in addition to having the highest recorded exit velo this year. The underlying stats support this as well - although his ground ball rate is still higher than it should be, thanks to his rough start, his “hard hit” rate is 65.8% which would be the highest of his career if it held. Stanton hasn’t just been an all or nothing power hitter - he’s sprayed balls all over the park. His pull rate is only 21.1%, the lowest of his career, while his centrally hit rate is 68.4%, the highest of his career. For as good as Stanton’s been, he has room to get even better as he hits more fly balls and line drives and walks more (currently only at a 7.1% walk rate, 4 points below his career average). He is a dangerous hitter even when he’s not at his best - just imagine what he’s like for a full season when he is at his best.
So why does it seem like he’s been the scapegoat of so much ire? Stanton is similar to another high priced superstar slugger that used to play for New York - Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod was always an above average hitter, even during his “down” years, but when the Yankees weren’t doing well, he represented everything that fans hated about the team: overpriced players who couldn’t play up to their reputation. In the end, A-Rod won the fans over by taking the Yankees to a World Series victory, and Stanton could be on a similar path this season. If he puts together a postseason like he had last year, Yankees fans could be in for a real October treat.
Lowlight Player of the Week
It has been a tough year for Gary Sanchez stans out there. The once anointed heir to the Yankee catcher seemed to be on a path to greatness, hitting .247/.328/.518 in his first four seasons with two All Star appearances, over 100 home runs, and a historic rookie half-season. Gary was an integral part of the Yankees offense - let’s not forget that he would hit back to back with Judge in the upper part of the Yankees lineup before Stanton showed up. Gary was capable of incredible hitting displays at clutch times. His go ahead double in the 2017 ALCS Game 4 was one example, but let’s not forget him knocking around David Price in the 2018 ALDS as well.
Gary gave the Yankees one of the biggest positional advantages in baseball, but has fallen quite far in the last two years. He has batted .155/.277/.342 since the beginning of last year, with numbers that are hard to hand wave even with the power advantage that he provides. This has led him to lose the starting catcher job to Kyle Higashioka in both the 2020 playoffs and this season. Granted, Higgy isn’t exactly a hitting savant, mostly benefiting from some timely hits and his relationship with Gerrit Cole, but it’s not a stretch to say that Gary isn’t so scary anymore.
Ha, fooled you there, didn’t I? We don’t show negative Yankees clips on this account, but Gary’s better hitting days might be behind him. Is there reason for optimism? Well, it seems likely that he will get more playing time as Higgy regresses to the mean. When Gary has played this year, his hitting profile has been a bit different than we’ve been used to. He has actually walked 15.4% of the time, which is a career high for him. His power has been next to nothing (.286 slugging percentage is yikes) but that’s never a concern for Gary. The concern is the ability to put bat to ball in situations where he doesn’t hit it out of the park. His home run rate is below his career average, meaning that as he plays more, that will inevitably rise. The real culprit this year is that Gary hasn’t been hitting the ball hard - he has a 39% hard hit rate, which is well below his 47% career average. Gary can’t beat out a lot of ground balls, which is why his BABIP is low and thus his batting average is low. You can see the solution here - hit more balls hard, turn those soft grounders into line drives, and raise the old batting average. Combining this with a normalization of his home run rate and his improved plate discipline could actually result in a better Gary Sanchez.
Of course, this is all a very optimistic take and it’s just as likely that Gary might continue to play poorly and find himself glued to the bench. However, on behalf of the other writer for Yankees Files, I would like to say that I believe that this will still be the Summer of Gary. It might take a little longer than expected, but the stars are still aligned for Sanchez to make an impact on this Yankees team. Just look at his home run last night as the beginning of a turnaround for the talented backstop.
In conclusion, #YoSoyGary.
Around the League
A recurring feature of the thoughts column will be “Around the League”, where, in six bullet points, we check in on the happenings around the rest of the MLB.
AL East: The Red Sox are still holding strong, but the rest of the division is catching up to them. Just 4.5 games separate the top and bottom of the East - it could be anyone’s race to take control of. One thing’s for sure - the Yankees are not out of this yet, as was predicted weeks ago.
AL Central: The red hot Royals have come back to Earth and now sit in third place. It’s the White Sox who are narrowly leading this one over the Indians. Minnesota is still in an early season slump and the Tigers are simply unwatchable.
AL West: The Oakland Athletics have ridden their 13 game win streak to a spot atop the AL West, trailed closely by Seattle and Houston. The Angels, despite having so many good players, are bringing up the rear and it’s fair to wonder if they will ever make it to the playoffs with Mike Trout.
NL East: The NL East is closer than the AL East - 2.5 games separate first and last. The Phillies are on top for now, but the Mets and Braves are hot on their heels. The Nationals, playing at Yankee Stadium this week, sit in the cellar just two years after their World Series winning campaign.
NL Central: The Brewers have cooled off after their hot stretch and the Cardinals have jumped into first place in this division. Chicago and Cincinnati sit in the middle of the pack, while the Pirates, who started off strong, bring up the rear.
NL West: This seemed like a two team race between San Diego and Los Angeles, but the Giants of San Francisco are the division leader a month into the season, behind stellar pitching and a Buster Posey resurgence. The Diamondbacks are only a game and a half behind the third place Dodgers and the Rockies are having a tough year, as predicted.
Let’s take another look at the WAR leaderboard and see how things are shaking out.
Some of the early season surprises have fallen off here, but it’s still great to see a resurgent season from Kris Bryant (and less so for JD Martinez). Jacob DeGrom and Gerrit Cole are absurdly good and Mike Trout is ageless. Keep an eye on Vlad Jr. - this could be the breakout season people have been waiting for from him.
Fun Baseball Facts - John Means Edition
Today’s fun fact hits upon a gem thrown by John Means of the Orioles, who hurled the third no hitter in baseball this year. However, this was no ordinary no-hitter. One could argue that this was closer to a perfect game. Means faced 27 batters in his outing - the only batter reaching on a dropped third strike. That batter was thrown out trying to steal, meaning that Means faced the minimum amount of batters. Because of the dropped third strike, a batter did reach, but it was one of the more incredible games we’ve seen pitched in a while. Let’s look at some fun facts about the perfecto that wasn’t and a few Yankees related no hitter facts as well.
John Means was the first pitcher to throw a non-perfect game no hitter in which the opposing team did not get a walk, hit by pitch or error - basically most ways of getting baserunners. Means was also the first pitcher to throw a no hitter with no walks, hit by pitchers and the minimum 27 batters faced since Terry Mullholland in 1990 (the batter in his no hitter reached on an error). This was an exceedingly rare accomplishment and even rarer still that it wasn’t actually a perfect game.
Means struck out 12 in his no hitter and walked none, for the first time for an American League pitcher since Seattle’s own Felix Hernandez, who did the trick in his perfect game in 2012.
Means also did something that hadn’t been done in a while in Orioles history - throw a no hitter without the aid of the bullpen. While the bullpen pitched a combined no-no for the Orioles in 1991, this was the first solo no hitter for Baltimore since 1969, when Jim Palmer threw one. It’s been a while!
Now that the Orioles snapped their no hitter drought, you’re probably feeling that it’s been a while since the Yankees had a no hitter - and you’re right! The last no-no in Yankees history was David Cone’s perfect game in 1999. It’s been 22 years since a Yankee pitcher has thrown a no hitter. In their history, the Yankees have thrown 11 no hitters, including three perfect games - Cone’s, David Wells’, and Don Larsen’s World Series perfecto in 1956.
Means was simply outstanding today - here’s the video of his final out.
In a year with plenty of no hitters, it could be the Yankees’ turn next to break their streak. They have a worthy candidate in Gerrit Cole, so keep your eyes peeled each time he starts!
Remember Some Games
Each week, the “Remember Some Games” column will take a trip in the Wayback Machine to look at a game from ten years prior, in the season of 2011. This was a season right in the middle of the Yankees run of success from 2009-2012 and saw the Yankees win the AL East in a season where the Red Sox were considered by many to be the Greatest Team of All Time. This week’s game, in honor of next week’s Yankees-Rays rematch, takes us back to a hot summer afternoon in July, when one member of the Yankees made history - with an exclamation point!
It was a moment years in the making. The baseball world had watched as Derek Jeter inched closer and closer to recording his 3,000th hit, which would solidify his place among baseball legends. However, the hit king had struggled in the leadup to his career defining milestone. He had only batted .257 to that point, and had missed 18 games in June to injury. It seemed that the old Derek Jeter was gone and that the slow slog to the end of his career was inevitable, with a brief pause to salute him as he achieved baseball history. Boy, was everyone about to be proven wrong.
The Yankees welcomed the Tampa Bay Rays to the Bronx on July 9th, a Saturday afternoon, in front of a rowdy fanbase that was ready to celebrate the career of their captain. These fans were thrilled to get the opportunity to see Jeter go for 3,000 - the previous night’s game had been rained out, and with Jeter only two hits away, it seemed likely that he could have picked up the hit in the previous game. Instead, he would step into the box against David Price in the bottom of the first, sitting on 2,998 hits. Jeter picked up a sharp single to left field, setting the stage for what would come next. In the bottom of the second, AJ Burnett gave up a home run to Matt Joyce, putting the Yankees in a 1-0 hole. This was the situation that Derek Jeter found himself as he stepped into the box against Price in the third. What happened next was simply historic.
Derek Jeter rounded the bases, becoming the second player to ever homer for his 3,000th hit after Wade Boggs (Alex Rodriguez would later join him). It was an electric moment at Yankee Stadium and play stopped for a good five minutes for teammates to congratulate Derek and the fans to give him a long and loud ovation. Even the Rays left their dugout to cheer, led by former Yankee Johnny Damon. It was all a testament to the legacy and popularity of Derek Jeter.
The Yankees still had a game to play after this achievement and they were only tied in the third inning. Fortunately, Jeter wasn’t done by any means. Russell Martin added an RBI single in the third inning to make it 2-1 Yankees, but Melvin (formerly BJ) Upton homered off Burnett to put the Rays back on top. In the fifth, the Yankees battled back to retake the lead 4-3, sparked by another Jeter hit, this time a double. This back and forth game was already going down in Yankees history, but there were a few more twists and turns that it would take. The Rays tied the game in the eighth off David Robertson, but that merely set the stage for another round of Jeter heroics in the bottom of the inning. Jeter lined a single up the middle scoring Eduardo Nunez and giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead that Mariano Rivera would close out in the top of the ninth. This gave Jeter an incredible five hits on the day and put the capper on one of the great moments of his career. True to form, Jeter was more concerned about winning the game than achieving this milestone hit. In his postgame quotes, Jeter said, "It would have been really, really awkward to be out there doing interviews and waving to the crowd after the game if we had lost. So that was going through my head in my last at-bat today...If we didn't win, it definitely would have put a damper on things."
Free from the pressure of worrying about this milestone hit, Jeter began to hit like the Derek of old again. You could tell before the game that this was weighing on him and his comments indicated as much. "I was excited, but to be honest with you, I was pretty relieved," Jeter said. "I've been lying to you guys for a long time saying I wasn't nervous and there was no pressure. I mean, there was a lot of pressure to do it here." For the rest of the season, he batted .338/.392/.451 and seemed to find new life free of expectations. The next year, Jeter had a renaissance season before injuring his leg in the playoffs and truly entering the last phase of his career. In July 2011, no one was worried about any of this - people only wanted to celebrate the magical moment from a player who provided more magic than most other players. DJ3K was one of, if not the best, moment from the 2011 season. As Michael Kay would say three years later, when Jeter lined a walk off single in his final home game - “Derek Jeter: where fantasy becomes reality!”
Thanks for reading this edition of Bomber Bits - let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas for the column, or if there’s a specific 2011 game you’d like me to remember in the future!
