The Yankees have won 12 of 13 starting on April 21st. Two weeks ago the Yankees were 7 1/2 games out of 1st with a 9-9 record behind the 17-2 Boston Red Sox.
Now as they start a home stand vs the Cleveland Indians, they are 1 game out of 1st place. The most impressive thing about the 12 of 13 win streak is that the last 7 games were on the road where they went 3-0 vs the Angels sweeping at Angel stadium which they hadn’t done since 2003 and taking 3 of 4 at Minute Maid vs the World Champions Houston Astros. We spoke about it before the season started, winning on the road was one thing the 2017 team needed to improve on. 41-47 including postseason.
Lets take a look at the standings as of May 3rd
Boston: 22-9
Yankees 21-10 (1 game out)
Yankees not only have the 2nd best record in AL East, but the 2nd best winning percentage in all of the MLB (Tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks)
Quick early assessments:
When it comes to pitchers, lets start with the starters.
Severino (5-1 , 2.11 era) has been outstanding. The best outing was a complete game shutout of the Houston Astros with Romine behind the plate. He mixed in his change up early which set the tone for the whole game. He didn’t throw it that much later in the game but it was still in the batter’s mind. The fastball command was off-the-charts good in that game and has been for most of the season. The slider continues to improve. When he has all three pitches going he’s as good as any pitcher in the game.
CC Sabathia (2-0 , 1.71 era) has been even better than last year. Batters exit velocity off of CC is the fifth lowest in the majors.
Tanaka (4-2 , 4.39 era) He’s been up and down, more up than down, but you’re not sure which Tanaka will show up on a given day. The partially torn UCL in his pitching elbow will always be cause for concern.
Gray (1-2 , 6.67 era) has been disappointing but he pitches better to Romine. Aaron Boone said he would not have a personal catcher but has changed his mind and elected to let Romine catch Sonny. The pairing has been a success.
Montgomery (2-0 , 3.62 era) is on the DL with an elbow / forearm strain. They say he will be back in 6-8 weeks, but you know how that goes.
German, who I liked in spring training, now has an opportunity as he replaces Montgomery in the rotation.
The starters have performed well during the 12 of 13 win stretch going 7-1 with a 2.09 era. The issue is … can they stay healthy?
The bullpen started out slow but recently has been outstanding. During the last 13 games the relievers have a 0.91 era. Chapman is healthy and you can tell by his swagger. D Rob, Green, and Betances have all been solid recently. Kahnle and Warren are both on the DL and will make the pen even stronger when they return.
As far as the offense, no team in the league can match up with the home run power of Judge, Stanton, Sanchez, and Didi (I’m not a home run hitter) Gregorius. Speaking of Didi, he was not only the Yankee MVP for the month of April, but the player of the month in April in the American League.
Prospects Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar have gotten the playing time most Yankees fans hoped for. Torres has been phenomenal. He has been fundamentally sound on both sides of the ball. Playing second base, he has made an immediate positive impact on the team. It is no coincidence that Torres was called up at the start of the Yankees hot streak. He has a .317 batting average, .356 on base percentage to go along with steady handed defense and high baseball IQ that make it almost impossible to believe he is only 21 years old. Simply stated, Torres is here and he’s here to stay!!
Miguel Andujar has been streaky with the bat, but when hot can carry the offense. In 24 games he has 12 2B, 1 3B, 3 HRs, and a .284 BA but has only walked twice for a .296 OBP. That must improve. He must stay within the strike zone or good pitchers will exploit his lack of plate discipline. Defense is still the biggest question mark when it comes to Andujar. The Drury is still out (sort of speak). Until Drury is 100% healthy, Andujar has a golden opportunity at the major league level.
Fielding is a subject not spoken nearly enough in my opinion. It is often overlooked. The Yankees are faced with some interesting dilemmas. Stanton has monopolized the DH spot for much of the beginning of the season, but will that continue? He is not as good in left field as Gardner, but when he does play left he frees up the DH spot for others.
Austin Romine is a better defensive catcher than Gary Sanchez. Should he be paired up with certain pitchers? Should he catch more than 1 out of 5 games? If the DH spot were open more it would make the option a possibility. And what happens when Drury comes back? Does he get his job back because of his superior defensive ability over Andujar?
To recap, the Yankees have impressed on offense by not only displaying the long ball power that was expected, but strong plate discipline. The pitching has stayed relatively healthy, the fielding has improved, thanks in part to the addition of Torres, and there are interesting decisions ahead at catcher, third base, and left field when it comes to playing time.
As the regular season continues to unfold, you get the sense this team is going to win their share of games. I truly believe the Yankees will dominate at home as they did last year because of the monster right-handed bats that like to go oppo to take advantage of the short porch without being a victim of the shift as a lefty laden dead-pull line-up has in the past. Stanton with his closed stance is a huge addition in that regard and he has not yet gotten comfortable at home. He will.
And if the Yanks can continue to win on the road, they will become an elite team !!
Add to that, the knowledge that the Yankee farm system is so loaded, Brian Cashman has the ability to make trade deadline moves to improve the roster / rotation even further to make a strong postseason run.
As always,
GO NYY
@mikepintonyy
