After a shaky start to the 2015 season, the Yankees have rebounded to win 13 out of 17 games and stand at 16-10 going into Tuesday’s play. Their all around play is improved from 2014 and thus far have only suffered one key injury. But, what has been the biggest key to their success of late?
The argument could be made that the 1-2 punch of Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner at the top of the order has been the sparkplug for the offense in the early going. And it would be hard to dispute that point. Ellsbury is batting .347 and Gardner sits at .312, and both have OBPs north of .400. They are not only getting on base, but are creating havoc for opposing teams when they do. The Yankees are averaging scoring over a full run more than in 2014, 4.96 vs 3.90.
What has allowed this to happen is that Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira are occupying the 3 and 4 spots in the lineup. In 2014, A-Rod was missing entirely and Teixeira had a less than stellar season at the plate. Neither has a particularly high batting average early on, but their on base and slugging percentages have them with an OPS at or near .900. In fact, as a team, the Yankees OBP is up from .308 to .325 and SLG is up from .381 to .426. The presence of A-Rod and Teixeira in the middle of the order has allowed Ellsbury to move back to leadoff. He hit in the third spot in the order in 2014 because of injuries and a lack of power output by the team. It’s not hard to see that he is much better in the leadoff spot. He has hit .450 in his last 10 games and was on base an amazing 6 times Sunday night against the Red Sox. Gardner has benefitted as much as anyone, moving up to 4th on the team in RBIs with 13.
The 2014 version of the Yankees was injured riddled and had many players hitting in spots they might not normally have been in. Ichiro was forced to play much more than expected and many observers threw blame at Derek Jeter batting second. While his numbers offensively were at or near a career low, he was still second on the team in hits and his .256 batting average was not far behind the team leader, Ellsbury. And as for the common belief that Jeter shouldn’t bat second because he struck out too much, hit strikeout rate was lower than both Gardner and Ellsbury.
The Yankees in 2015 have been solid thus far. Solid starting pitching and an improved defense (there have been a few spots where it has been shaky) to go along with a lights out bullpen have all been bright spots. But they have all been the beneficiaries of solid production from the 1-4 spots in the lineup. If Carlos Beltran can join the party and if the bottom of the order can start producing regularly, the Yankees could possibly be in the drivers seat in the AL East.
