Finding a way to stop the injury bug from decimating the New York Yankees roster last season was a priority. Still, they couldn’t manage to find an antitode, which ultimately led to multiple players missing or playing minimally during the postseason.
Missing some of your best/starting players in the playoffs is the difference between winning or losing close games. Not having Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit at full health was significant for the Yankees in the ALCS, as they lost to the cheating Houston Astros in game six on a walk-off homer by Jose Altuve.
However, the Yankees attempted to bolster their strength and conditioning staff by firing Matt Kraus and hiring Eric Cressey, who’s known for his ability to resurrect players and mitigate injury concerns. At the time, this seemed like an incredible move, but the reality is, the Yankees are just an injury-prone team.
The New York Yankees’ philosophy has changed, leading to more injury-prone players:
The switch from a runners-on-base approach to a home-run centric mentality has been a significant difference in the Yankees’ game the past few years. However, what comes with sluggers is injury proneness, at times. Changing the increased launch-angle of the bat can put more pressure on other muscles, and the workouts they are participating in are meant to strengthen special muscle groupings to reinforce that approach.
Players like Luke Voit, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez become more prone to injury as they adapt their game to a home-run first method and increased launch angle off the bat. The more significant factor comes in the weight room, as they focus on muscles that lend a hand in this idea.
The Yankees can’t even trust their own doctors:
It took months for the Yankees to diagnose Judge with a stress fracture on a rib officially, and they only just unveiled a collapsed lung that had fully healed. It’s concerning that this discomfort has been plaguing him since last September, and it took nearly have a year to discover the culprit. Is that something to worry about — I would say, yes, but it’s also an anomaly. Due to that reality, though, Judge would have missed the first few months of the season and could still be out even if the new Opening Day is in June. That’s a severe setback for a player who was reportedly health less than a month ago.