New York Yankees news, 10/15 – Aaron Boone to make some changes in hitting order

New York Yankees, Aaron Boone
Mar 22, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) prior to the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Good Morning, New York Yankees Fans!

After a severe loss to the Astros on Sunday, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone will need to find a way to inject more offensive power into the batting order. With Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Gardner accounting for five strikeouts on the night, switching out one of those two options might be beneficial for the team.

In all likelihood, moving Gary Sanchez up the order to the No. 4 spot and replacing him with either Cameron Maybin or Aaron Hicks makes the most sense. Encarnacion hasn’t recorded a hit in two games over nine at-bats. Maybin offers great base-running and a consistent bat (as of late), and Hicks is a switch hitter than can pose a problem towards the end of the lineup against opposing pitchers.

Boone has some tough decisions to make, especially in the first home game with Luis Severino starting. If the Yankees ace can go five innings, they will be in good shape handling the rest of the game, but the offense will have fits with Astros star pitcher, Gerrit Cole, who enters the game with a 0.57 ERA over two games this postseason.

Tackling Cole and putting a few runs on the board will be difficult, but there’s a reason they saved him for the first game of the away-stretch. The Yankees, however, could take advantage of Cole’s deficiency this past season. As one of the best pitchers in baseball, Cole struggled a bit in the long ball department, allowing 29 home runs and a career-high 16.9% home run fly ball rate. He allowed ten homers more this year than in 2018, which the Yanks will undoubtedly be looking at when they build their lineup on Tuesday.

That fact alone could be the deciding factor in keeping Encarnacion in the lineup or not — utilizing his power and launch angle against Cole. Beating the Astros pitcher will come down to specific pitches and who is fortunate enough to catch one of his mistakes.

Fangraphs gives a fantastic description of this topic, which I will post below!

Nonetheless–

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