There is no debate over the fact that Chase Headley struggled tremendously in the field in 2015. He is not denying it, the Yankees aren’t denying it and fans surely aren’t denying it. The Yankees third baseman is well aware he needs to be better and is making it his top priority of the spring to work on and fix the mistakes for the upcoming season.
Yankees 3B Chase Headley says fixing fielding woes a spring priority, via @AnthonyMcCarron https://t.co/9VZgKi6yR5 pic.twitter.com/bs8GTkjF7M
— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) February 24, 2016
Headley said in an interview with Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News that “just talking from the coaches to the front office, I think they understand that last year was hopefully an outlier. Certainly again we’re not passing it off and saying it’s nothing, but we don’t expect it to happen again.”
It was a tough year all around for Headley. He committed 23 errors at third baseman which is 10 more than he has ever committed. Known for his strong defense, he doesn’t believe he his struggles will continue into next season.
“I don’t think it’s the norm, certainly. I think I’m a lot closer to the player I’ve been for the majority of my career than I was last year.”
Headley also struggled at times with the bat. He finished with a .259/.324/.369 slash line opposed to his career .264/.344/.403 line.
According to Baseball-Reference, Headley had -6 defensive runs saved in 2015. He will need to improve in both aspects of his game for him to contribute next season.
“We’ve looked at some film and I think for me it all starts with a base, trying to have good footwork,” Headley said. “We’ll try to focus on that in spring training. It’s an area that I was extremely disappointed with last year. We’ll try to do better this year.”
