It’s game 5 of last years ALDS. It’s the second inning and Tyler Glasnow is trying to settle in and find a groove. He is on short rest and is having trouble finding the strike zone. He starts off Stanton with three balls. Leading off the inning, this is a huge at bat. If Stanton walks or gets on base, it forces Glasnow to go to the stretch and continue to search for the strike zone. Glasnow fires his fourth pitch of the inning and Stanton swings. He rolls over and hits a routine ground ball to third base.
Without showing he can consistently stay in the zone, Glasnow gets his first out of the inning. Luke Voit is up next and he ends up drawing a walk, further proving Glasnow is having trouble locating. Gio Urshela ends up having a poor AB and strikes out. Gleyber Torres is now up. Once again, Glasnow falls behind and is 3-0. Once again, the Yankees swing away. Gleyber swings and flies out to right field, end of the inning. Glasnow comes back out for the 3rd, and walks Brett Gardner on five pitches before being taken out for Nick Anderson.
If the approach was better, that inning would totally be different. As a hitter, the pitcher needs to come to you. Giving Glasnow two outs on 3-0 counts, in the same inning, is terrible baseball. It is selfish baseball. You’re giving Glasnow “freebies” and not forcing him to throw strikes.
Approaches like this symbolize today’s style of play. It’s the “all or nothing” mindset, where the priority is to put the ball over the fence and not to scratch across runs by passing the baton. Regardless of Stanton’s at bat, if Gleyber walks instead of making the third out of that inning, Gardner gets an oppoutunity with a runner in scoring position. Keep in mind, the Yankees lost this game by one run…
This selfish style of play has proven to be ineffective come October, but now it also looks lackluster in April. This offense, centered around the long ball, is ranked 17th in HR’s. That’s the problem with “all or nothing” style offense. When you’re not leading the league in power, your offense needs to generate runs in other ways in order to have a top ranked offense. Unfortunately, the Yankees’ offense has shown no alternative avenue for productivity. Instead, they continue to rely on the long ball and fans continue to see hitters fail to start rallies, fail to put the ball in play, and fail to generate runs.
By no means do I want to see Stanton dropping bunts down the third base line. But better situational hitting and a better overall team centric approach would help this offense. Perhaps being more selective in certain counts, taking walks, shorter swings, more competitive AB’s, moving guys over, stealing bags, cutting down on strikeouts, and getting on base could help the team start rallies, instead of relying on one or two HR swings a game.
I want to see less Bronx Bombers and more Bronx Ball Players. So what do you think? Let me know on Twitter @Nolan_DeMelfi
