It’s not even really a surprise anymore, but the New York Yankees are dealing with an immense amount of injuries. The team’s two best outfielders, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, are both dealing with injuries. Stanton has been on the IL since August 9th with a hamstring strain. Judge went on the IL on August 14th with a calf strain, but was reactivated before the doubleheader against Atlanta. In that doubleheader, Judge reaggravated his calf and may land on the IL again.
However, the Yankees have been lucky as an outfield duo has really stepped it up this year with all the injuries. Clint Frazier and Mike Tauchman have both hit the cover off the ball, and are proving they deserve to be a part of the picture in the future.
Frazier has played just nine games, but is 9-for-30 in that span. He’s hit two home runs and driven in eight runs while drawing three walks. His OPS is .964 and has an OPS+ of 160. His defense has shown to have made progress, as he has two defensive runs saved already.
Tauchman, however, has already played in 21 games and has 54 at-bats. He’s batting .315 with five doubles and seven runs batted in. He’s yet to go yard, the reason for a .791 OPS, but his on base percentage is almost .400. Tauchman is consistently getting on base, and that’s set up some of the other power hitters.
Although the Yankees have missed Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge to injuries, the team has had some very solid bats to fill their places. It’s hard to fill the shoes of all-stars, but Tauchman and Frazier have done the best they can to fill those shoes.