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Thursday, July 26, 2018

What a Long Strange Year It's Been—And It's Only July!

Maybe the strangest stat of the whole year is one just examined by Matt Musico at the Chin Music Baseball website:

http://thesportsdaily.com/2018/07/23/aaron-judge-really-loves-hitting-at-yankee-stadium-cmb11/

According to Chin Music, Aaron Judge is not simply a better hitter at home.  Music quotes another website, Stats By STATS, to the effect that the difference in Judge's performance at home versus on the road is the greatest EVER:

The @Yankees' Aaron Judge has a 1.241 OPS at home this year compared to a .681 mark on the road.

His difference of .560 is currently the largest by any player in a single season in the live-ball era (minimum 200 plate appearances each split).

Mr. Musico thinks that this is all fine and dandy—"At the core of it all, Judge is going to be just fine.  Heck, there is nothing wrong with him right now anyways."

Really?  I find it surreal.

What I also find bizarre is that both he and Stanton now have steadily rising batting averages, but that their power is dropping steadily AND they are still on or near a pace to break the single season strikeout record.

Huh?

BETWEEN the two of them, Judge and Stanton have all of 10 home runs and 23 RBI over the past month—and 59 strikeouts.  They also have only 20 walks.

Now mind you, I'm all for guys making adjustments and not just going for the long ball every time up.  Stanton is apparently leading the majors in legging out infield hits, for instance, which shows admirable hustle.

But I simply can't understand how it is that these guys manage to hit for less and less power, walk less and less often—and STILL strike out at near record paces.  And in Judge's case, can't hit on the road anymore.

Comparatively speaking, Gary Sanchez's lack of desire is a very straightforward problem to solve.  Can anyone figure out the morass our leading hitters have fallen into?

Since Brett Gardner has now officially entered into his second-half slump—.229/.316/.434/.750 over the last month—SOMEBODY had better start hitting, and soon.  



18 comments:

KD said...

Yanks need to be as good at stealing signs for Judge on the road as they are at home. Don't know how else to explain this.

Anonymous said...

It is weird.

In Stanton's case I think it's human nature.

He was on the verge of being one of the great disappointments of all time so he changed his approach on how he swings a little bit to bring the avg up.

That said, he looks like a guess hitter to me. There are balls he is going to swing at no matter what because he's decided where it is going to be. That's why he can miss by two feet. It also means a lot of strike outs whenever he guesses wrong.

Also, just in this last series I've seen hit just miss HRs twice. Maybe a little wind makes those HRs by twenty feet.

Judge's strikeout rate is aided by the verifiable number of crap calls that he gets for strike three. He gets jobbed. particularly on the low outside pitch.

Take those away (or at least 1/2 of them, because no ump is perfect) and then add those to the walk column and his OBP and AVG. ump and his strikeouts drop.

As to the splits. Wow huh? Sees the ball better in YS? Getting signs? I do not know.

Doug K.

Anonymous said...

jump not ump

Doug K.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Apparently, Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney are being shipped out for a short-term rental of a 35-year-old pitcher.

This pitcher's contract ends with 2018.

His last 36 innings have produced a 5.20 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP.

So we are no longer Happ-less.

But.....still hapless?

Anonymous said...

Noooooooooooooooooo

Not McKinnnnnnnnnnnney

Nooooooooooooooooooo!

The only living boy in Wishaw said...

Thanks to Joe in the post above we know that Happ's last 36 innings have produced a 5.20 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP.

If we called up Sheffield could we not reasonably expect him to do better than that?

The Cash Ninja fanboys on other sites are calling this trade a steal.

I'm glad we didn't give up a top 10 prospect but the strength and depth of the farm system takes another hit with this trade for yet another rental and a pretty average pitcher not a difference maker in my opinion.

But what do I know I'm in Scotland have never been to a baseball game in my life (hopefully will be in London next year however for the highlight of my life seeing the Yankees)

Anonymous said...

So far it's Drury and McKinney.

So a guy who has not been able to get on track and was hired as no longer needed AnDUjar insurance and McKinney.

Good with Drury. Not sure about McKinney. I do know that outfielders are perhaps the easiest position to replace in FA. So maybe it doesn't matter as much.

I heard we are getting a catcher as well but I don't know if there is an added cost.

Doug K.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...



Cashmoney's Scorecard thus far:

GONE -- Dillon Tate, Josh Rogers, Cody Carroll, Brandon Drury, Billy McKinney. Maybe they will all turn out to suck?

ACQUIRED -- two pitchers with questionable present performance levels. Both are free agents when the year ends.

I am sorry to say this, but I am entirely underwhelmed. I would really love to be proven wrong by the outstanding August, September + October that these two guys provide.

Wanna bet on THAT?

Anonymous said...

Happ to Yanks for Drury and McKinney.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Well, I'm glad we never really got to look at Drury, so that Neil Walker could have 230 plate appearances (and counting).

Might it have been a good idea next year to have, say, The Gleyber move to his first position of shortstop, and install Drury at second, then trade Didi for pitching? Could it be we should have moved Drury to third, and Andujar to first when another Bird leg shatters?

We'll never know, because those possible futures—and much of this season—have been sacrificed to seeing if Neil Walker could get untracked. This was owed to him, really, since Walker has been such a great Yankee for so many seasons, and since we invested so much in him.

And as to McKinney, no, there's no possibility we could possibly need another outfielder next year, what with Gardner possibly leaving as a free agent, Hicks once again failing to emerge, and Ellsbury doing...who knows what.

Nope, ship them all off for the rental starter who looks poised to do almost as well as Jaime Garcia did down the stretch last year.

13bit said...

This is what happens when he doesn’t have to answer to The Boss. Hal is happy so long as his X% profit keeps rolling in. Hal is not a fan.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Great analysis from our resident Wishavian. Why COULDN'T Sheffield do as well as Happ has done for the last month?

Ah, well, we mere mortals don't get those sorts of explanations.

What's most annoying about all this is the PR aspect of it.

As we have sussed out on this site, Coops has made himself look good by not making THE most absolutely stupid, one-sided deal and handing over our very top prospects for this space-filler. Hooray!

Drury and McKinney may not pan out—most young players and prospects don't—which is what Coops is always counting on. He deals away prospects like M & Ms, knowing most of them won't come back to haunt him. And if, say, the Yanks get hot at the right time and Britton is brilliant in October, he can take all the credit (It's impossible to picture Happ getting hot.).

And if THAT doesn't work, Coops can always start talking about the Rule V draft again.

Onward and downward.

ranger_lp said...

We need to DFA Walker. But at least part of the logjam is removed with Drury being traded. The fact that Drury didn't share the migraine issue with management weighed on the FO to move him. At least they didn't give up the farm for Happ. This move wreaks of desperation for the Yanks to have a starter that will eat innings. I'd rather the Yanks be Happless to be truthful.

Vampifella said...

Three more freed up spots for rule 5. Both McKinney and Drury had no real place on the team and I doubt the Yanks will sign Happless for 2019.

With Sheffield it has to be that the Yanks want to control him for another year. I'd wager that they have no plans on bringing him up in 2018. So get a crap rental for your spare rule 5s as you'll get another year of a star rookie pitcher. Totally makes sense really. Or perhaps I'm giving the Yanks far too much credit. They may trade him tomorrow for Erik Kratz to cover for Sanchez's "injury".

Austria's Only Baseball Fan said...

Maybe the headline "Aaron Judge really loves hitting at Yankee Stadium" should be changed to "Aaron Judge really loves getting hit at Yankee Stadium..."

Rufus T. Firefly said...

What Vampi said.

And here's hoping Judge doesn't have a bad wrist now.

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