Bronx Bomber Ball

The pitching staff for the New York Yankees in the first half has shown signs of encouragement with some, and has shown extreme disappointments with others. The inconsistency of the starting rotation has somewhat plagued the Yankees as it has contributed to the team’s struggles to string together wins. Of course, the Yankees have the best trio of relievers in the league at the back end of the bullpen with ‘No Run DMC’ in Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman. Although these three have been everything the Yankees have hoped for, the bridge to getting to them has been well below average, which has prompted yet another year of the infamous ‘Scranton Shuttle.’ Pitchers are graded on a standard A, B, C, D, F scale, with A for exceeding expectations, C for meeting expectations, F for failing, and I for incomplete.

The Yankees completed a frustrating first half with a nice series win over a first place Cleveland Indians team to get them to the .500 mark once again at 44-44. The team currently stands at fourth place in the AL East, 7.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. They are also 5.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the second wild card spot. So although the first half of the season has been grueling for the Yankees and their fans, the team is still within striking distance, but they would need to burst out of the gates and string together long winning streaks. Winning streaks have been few and far between for the 2016 Yankees and with many players having down years, let’s dive into our midseason report cards for position players. Players are graded on a standard A, B, C, D, F scale, with A for exceeding expectations, C for meeting expectations, F for failing, and I for incomplete. Photo Credit: John Munson | NJ Advance Media