The Yankees bench in 2015 has not produced to the level that was predicted before the season started. This has been mainly due to a lack of regular playing time and at bats. Their bench is hitting just .223 with 7 home runs. Six of the home runs have come courtesy of Chris Young’s early playing time in right field. What’s behind the struggles? Let’s take a look inside the numbers.
Young started off the season on a hot streak that had carried over from the last month of 2014 when the Yankees had picked up the Mets castoff. Young was taking away regular playing time from a struggling Carlos Beltran and had many fans wondering if this would finally be the Chris Young that everyone remembered from his All Star season of 2010 with Arizona.
His slash line of .368/.442/.816 in his first 13 games fueled these unreasonable expectations, but he kept the Yankees afloat while Beltran and Brian McCann were struggling. With the resurgence of the middle of the order, Young has still seen regular playing time against left handers with the Jacoby Ellsbury injury. His numbers have since plummeted to a more realistic .223/.281/.446 with no HRs and only 1 RBI in his last 10 games.
If you consider that Young was signed for defense and to supply a little power off the bench, those numbers aren’t all that bad. They benefitted from riding his early hot streak and I believe the Yankees would be happy with a .727 OPS in limited at bats. It will be interesting to see if Brett Gardner starts to see time in CF and give Ramon Flores regular at bats in left until Ellsbury returns from the DL.
I was on the list of people who thought the Garrett Jones acquisition during the off season would lead to quality backup production at 1B and RF. It stood to reason he would get plenty of time spelling Mark Teixeira at first and Beltran in right early on. It also would have been logical to see Jones getting regular reps at DH with the uncertainty of what Alex Rodriguez would bring this season. With a left handed swing tailor made for Yankee Stadium, the thought was Jones had found his perfect niche.
Regular at bats have been non-existent for Jones as Teixeira and A-Rod have been two of the teams most productive hitters early on and both have played in 46 of the 49 games the Yankees have played thus far. Only Chase Headley (47) has played in more games. It is very tough to be a consistent contributor when you have only had 55 ABs in 49 games. Jones has always been productive over the course of his 8 year career averaging 15-20 homers per season. However, he has never seen a season of less than 400 ABs, but at his current pace, will be lucky to get 200 barring unforeseen circumstances.
John Ryan Murphy had a solid 2014 both offensively and defensively in limited playing time. He won the backup catcher competition with Austin Romine in Spring Training, but has yet to get things going at the plate, hitting just .228/.286/.361 in 43 plate appearances. Murphy figures to get more playing time as the season progresses with McCann getting either days off or time at DH. Hopefully, his bat will come alive with the increased potential workload.
Jose Pirela was on track to win a roster spot until a concussion suffered near the end of Spring Training sidetracked him. Pirela has seen limited playing time since being activated off the DL and has not looked strong defensively at 2B. The door would seem to be wide open with Stephen Drew’s struggles at the plate and Pirela would seem to have a leg up on Drew with his bat, if only his glove can keep up.
A bench needs to be a very productive part of any team whether it is for a clutch hit that provides a spark late in a game or to provide reliable playing time in the event of an injury. With the exception of Chris Young, the Yankees bench has not seen steady playing time thus far in 2015. This will need to change as the season moves forward. Hopefully, these five can provide the spark needed off the bench and help keep the regular lineup fresh. They just need to take advantage of their ABs when they get them.
