Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Where Has All the Power Gone?

Apparently, wherever it is that the flowers, young girls, young men, soldiers, graveyards, and cowboys now reside, at least when it comes to the two biggest holes in the Yankees lineup.

Sure, the team as  whole is still on a pace to hit a record number of home runs. But the bottom has dropped out of the power numbers for Didi and Sanchez—something harder to fathom than the overall slumps they're mired in.

Some commentators at lesser sites have tried to tell us that Didi is back because he's hitting .275 over the last 14 days. But that's just so much folderol.

Over the last seven days, Sir Didi is hitting worse than ever:

.222/.300/.222/.522

As you can see, Didi's slugging percentage is identical to his batting average, indicating a COMPLETE lack of power.  And the figures over the last 28 days are even a little worse, overall:

.211/.250/.263/.513

During these last four weeks, Didi has hit 1 double, 1 home run, and driven in 5 runs. Total. It has literally been weeks since our beloved shortstop got an extra-base hit.

Sancho is in an even more compressed black hole.  Over the last 14 days, his slash line looks like this:

.081/.171/.108/.279

Ouch! And in those two weeks, he has hit 1 double, no homers, and driven in all of 2 runs.

The 28-day look back is not much better:

.159/.256/.304/.561

In the last month, Sancho has 4 doubles, 2 homers, and 5 ribbies.

Well, it happens, right? Even the best go into terrible, prolonged slumps.

Not THIS terrible or THIS prolonged, at least not that I remember—not for guys who were all-stars just last year. But maybe it's all just an anomaly.

What I don't get is the total power blackout on the part of both Didi and Sanchez. I mean, now that everyone has been thoroughly instructed in the ways of the "home run or nuthin'" school of hitting, there should be the OCCASIONAL ball hit over the wall, no? Even when they're not goin' good?

How can it be that these guys are up there trying for a home run every at-bat, and not hitting one at least, say, once a week, even when they're going bad?

The COMPLETE absence of power on both their parts implies there's more to the story. It barks injury, to some degree or another. A leg problem that keeps them from driving the ball. An eye problem that keeps them from seeing it.

I know what you're saying: 'The Yankees lie about an injury? Impossible!'

But I suspect they are. And I suspect that they're also lying to us about Judge's thumb now. It will be interesting to see when they 'fess up.










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13 comments:

TheWinWarblist said...

The Yankees 'fess up? As if.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Maybe Sanchez is (cough, cough) "injured". Except no-one in Scranton worth calling up.

Austin Powers also might be (cough, cough) "injured". Coincidentally, Drury is batting .321 in Scranton. Not that that matters, since he is a career .270 hitter. /s

HoraceClarke66 said...

Drury would be an excellent guy to bring up, if Didi is indeed injured. Among other things, we could see if Gleybe is better at shortstop.

If we are lucky with Sancho's injury, maybe it would suffice to just rest him and catch him once a week, while letting Romine do the rest of the work for awhile.

It seems increasingly weird to have our .190 flailer play all the time, while our .344 "I-can-actually-catch-the-ball" catcher sits on the bench. Oh, small sample size, I know! But at this rate, if Sanchez's sample size gets much larger it's going to suck down our whole season.

Anonymous said...

If if if if if if if if if if.

Judge's Xrays were negative, Professor Dr. HC66.

And Didi has made marginal improvements over the past two weeks after his nosedive in May, notwithstanding your latest mangling of statistical evidence.

You just stay in panic mode over nothing, like King George.

You can chide Cashman all you want--he's a paragon of good judgment and sagacity compared to you.

Anonymous said...

Brandon Drury--he batted about .270 in the majors? That's why batting average is meaningless.

His WAR in 2016 was MINUS 0.1; 2017 it was 1.6

His OPS in those years were a meh .786 and .764.

His dWAR in those years were MINUS 1.7 and 0.7, giving the lie to the myth that he's some kind of defensive wizard. Those defensive numbers STINK.

Cashman is an idiot for having acquired this nonentity, simply because he instinctively never trusts his own young talent but instinctively covets OTHER teams' young talent--utterly irrational and neurotic. Now let him figure out what to do with him.

TheWinWarblist said...

Yeah, yeah ,yeah, we all know Drury is a replacement side'o'beef. We're stuck with him. We can use him as a fill in when needed, or we can find a different replacement side'o'beef. No one think he's good. Except Cashman.

TheWinWarblist said...

"CASHMAN, YOU SUCK!" "CASHMAN, YOU SUCK!" "CASHMAN, YOU SUCK!" "CASHMAN, YOU SUCK!" "CASHMAN, YOU SUCK!" "CASHMAN, YOU SUCK!"

So endeth the JuJu. Go in blessed grace of Scooter.

TheWinWarblist said...

Start praying. It's gonna be a rough ride to the Fall.

Benedícat vos omnípotens Ruthus, et Scooter, et Mantleus, et Spíritus Jeterus.

TheWinWarblist said...

Seems like we are getting a wee tray of Lasagna to replace Tanaka on Thursday.

Parson Tom said...

Before turning to the game a moment ago, I was reading the comments. When I turned to mlb.com, I found this: "The Yankees opened the scoring in the 2nd on Didi Gregorius' 2nd HR since April and a sac fly."

Kismet! All our worrying for Didi is paying off!

Anonymous said...

Didi's freefall continues apace. In two of his four plate appearances tonight, he failed to hit a home run. TRADE HIS SORRY ASS! BENCH IT! DO SOMETHING, IN THE NAME OF GOD ALMIGHTY!

ranger_lp said...

Sanchez is an ice cream sandwich away from being Jesus Montero 2.0.

When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

TheWinWarblist said...

I know Anon, right? Didi's slash line since 6/12 is only .500/.500/2.000. Pathetic.