Moving Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley to the Top of the Lineup
In the
month of August, the New York Yankees have hit for a .198 batting average and a
.329 slugging percentage. The Yankees offense is in a slump and some sort of
change is needed. It is incredibly unlikely that Joe Girardi will actually mix
the lineup up seeing as, well, the team seems to dislike change. Not making any
moves at the deadline has definitely backfired, as a 7-game lead has shrunk
into a 0.5-game lead heading into the August 12 game at Cleveland. The current
lineup has Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury leading off and Alex Rodriguez,
Mark Teixeira, and Brian McCann batting 3-4-5. However, that has not worked as
batters 1-5 in the order have not performed at all and they are the players
that power the offense. To put it in perspective, the Yankees hit for a .254
average prior to the All-Star break and Gardner, Ellsbury, A-Rod, Teixeira, and
McCann are hitting for a combined .147 (28/191) in August! One possible way to
mix up the Yankees offense is by changing New York’s batting order.
The best hitters for the Yankees in
August have been Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley. Gregorius has 11 hits in 31
at-bats and Headley is 8 for 30 and both are the only hitters that play
regularly with batting averages of over .250. Headley and Gregorius have 28
hits each since the All-Star break and that leads the team. Didi has a batting
average of .359 while Headley is second on the team with a .341 batting average
since the break. The current 1-2 hitters in the batting order, Ellsbury and
Gardner, have hit for a combined 29 for 169 (.172). This has extremely hurt the
lineup because if the first two batters can’t reach, A-Rod and Teixeira are
coming up with one or no men on the bases and their job as run producers cannot
happen. Didi and Chase Headley have also combined for 8 doubles since the
All-Star break, which is more than Gardner and Ellsbury’s combined 4.
Additionally, Didi and Headley have 72 total bases since the break while
Gardner and Ellsbury have 47 total. Clearly, Gregorius and Headley have led the
Yankees offense and it is time for them to move up in the lineup. There is a
huge disparity between their production and Gardner and Ellsbury’s production.
The Yankees should move Didi
Gregorius and Chase Headley to the top of the lineup. Gregorius isn’t Brett Gardner-speedy
by any means, but Gardner hasn’t stolen a base since early June so there’s no
difference. Ellsbury also hasn’t stolen any bases since going on the disabled
list this year so there is no difference there as well. Didi would bat leadoff
and Headley would bat second. There are no statistics to support Didi leading
off because he hasn’t batted leadoff all year. However, Headley has 153 at-bats
and is batting an above average .281 in his at-bats at the #2 position. He has
a .331 on base percentage and 43 hits in that role. Even though Didi doesn’t
have any experience leading off, he has decent speed and he is reaching base
regularly. That’s simply the most important part of the first two batters -
reaching base so that the batters after, including A-Rod and Teixeira, can
drive them in. The Yankees could easily experiment with this for a couple games
since Didi and Headley are hot right now and Gardner and Ellsbury are
struggling. Ellsbury would most likely end up in the 6th position and Gardner
7th, as Brian McCann will usually bat 5th on a typical day if he is starting.
There’s no issue with Ellsbury batting 6th because he does have some power.
Gardner has also struck out 92 times, which is another reason why he shouldn’t
bat leadoff. 92 strikeouts is second most on the team after A-Rod’s 95
strikeouts.
Gardner and Ellsbury have combined
for an astounding 44 strikeouts since the All-Star break while Didi and Headley
have had only 24. Batters leading off should rarely strike out as strikeouts
give the opposing pitcher confidence. Didi and Headley have also created 7.03
and 5.93 runs every 27 outs, while Gardner has created only 2.63 runs and
Ellsbury only 1.71. In general, players that have improved over time should get
the chance to have their at-bats mean more. Specifically, Didi Gregorius has
improved significantly since his disappointing start while Brett Gardner has
regressed. Didi and Headley hit .206 and .232 in April while Gardner and
Ellsbury both hit above .300. However, every month, Didi continued his
month-by-month batting average. Once Ellsbury went on the DL, he hasn’t been
the same since. After May, Headley has also improved month-by-month in terms of
batting average. He even led the team with a .375 average in July and Didi hit
.317, which are both very good averages. By contrast, Gardner hit only .247 and
Ellsbury only .215.
Numbers simply do not lie. Didi and
Headley have performed better offensively and deserve to bat earlier in the
lineup. The Yankees offense has been struggling and a change is needed. Since
Yankees GM Brian Cashman has refused to bring up Rob Refsnyder from Triple
A-Scranton to replace Stephen Drew or make any changes to the roster
whatsoever, an internal batting lineup change seems necessary when no other
options are now available. I will be the first to admit that I was definitely
wrong about Didi Gregorius; he’s been excellent on offense recently and I am
excited to see his production, along with Headley’s offense, for the rest of
the year. Although unlikely, a lineup change that puts Didi and Headley batting
leadoff and second, respectively, would benefit the Yankees greatly.
Article by: Bryan Peng
Twitter: @bpeng1111
Follow the Bronx Bomber Blog @bronxbomberblog
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