Were you one of those concerned that Brett Gardner’s re-signing of the Yankees in February would hamper the development of Clint Frazier?
do not feel bad. I’m one of those people who praised the Yankees for signing Aaron Hicks to a seven-year, $ 70 million extension in 2019.
Hicks is now sidelined with a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist, a disease that can sideline him for an extended period of time until the center fielder responds positively to the medication and rest. Such an absence, as well as scratching with Giancarlo Stanton’s left quad tightness on Friday, would intensify a reality that was already related to the Yankees’ odd outfield couple Frazier and Gardner:
They are providing the Yankees with neither the embarrassment of money nor the dilemma of game time. In contrast, the 26-year-old redhead and the 37-year-old shaved-head have combined to create an outfield offensive sinkhole.
“Hopefully we’ll roll those two for us” [in] A little bit, “Aaron Boone said on Friday, before the Yankees started a series with the Orioles in Baltimore.
Frazier took the .141 / .282 / .283 slash line in Friday’s action, starting from left field; Orioles Park at Camden Yards stands as their favorite ballpark to hit in, which gives it optimism to seekers. Gardner, starting in the middle zone, spiritually matched his safety at .182 / .282 / .227. Hence the Yankees’ outfield, which was widely seen as a force to be reckoned with when the team broke camp, did not become one. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the Yankees’ left fielders had combined for .580 OPS as of Thursday, 12th out of 15 in the American League, while grouping their center fielders (Hicks .194 / .294 / .333). it was done. For .587, 14th out of 15.
And if you want to complain about Mike Tauchman’s trade to the Yankees, well, it’s a free country, although you should know that after Toucheman counted three hits in his Giants debut on April 28, some He made headlines, he was gone. 172 / .245 /. 318 in their next 12 matches.
A glance under the hood shows both Frazier and Gardner suffering similar pains: they were not hitting the ball as effectively as they had before, when they achieved better results. Frazier’s average exit velocity was 7.2 mph, the worst difference of his career; His previous low was 88.1 in 2018, the year he was hurt. Gardner’s 7.2 mph ranked a pair below the average 7.2 mph mark in 2014 (these numbers only go back to 2015, so they do not include Gardner’s first seven seasons).
“I think that in Fraise’s DNA, which is a tremendous trait he has, is he has really good strike-zone knowledge and usually doesn’t give chase,” Boone said. “But there is that fine line between not firing and not being aggressive, especially in the strike zone, and finding the quality of contact.”
According to Baseball Sawant, Frazier swings on 60.4 percent of the pitches seen in the strike zone, in line with last year’s 59.7 percent, which led to very good results. Prior to this year’s slight increase, their percentage in that department fell steadily, to 75.5 percent in their cheat year 2017.
“Many times it’s just time that leads to sound mechanics that puts you in a position to lift the ball up,” Boone continued. “So I think he had days where it started to look a bit where the quality of the bat was, then he took a step back. So we know it’s there. Hopefully it starts happening . “
Gardner cited a similar root cause in a zoom media session on Friday: “I recently spent some time watching a lot of videos. Might just be a matter of time. So just the at-bats I get, try to keep good at-bats and stay positive and keep working. “
The horrors of both have to be shut down, even more if the revivalist Stanton needs to be on the injured-list. There are a lot of at-bats available for both Frazier and Gardner, and if this reality remains a concern, it is bad for the Yankees.
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