In the last few weeks, the New York Yankees have become the baseball team to beat, and the opposition, for the most part, can’t seem to turn back the Yankee’s mission. That mission is a 28th World Championship. They already have the most championships in all sports.
Before the 2021 season started, the New York Yankees looked like it had its best chance at accomplishing that goal that they have had in years. Two major competitors seemed to be far less strong. The Boston Red Sox with a new controversial manager and in complete disarray, and a Tampa Bay team that had traded away some of their best pitchers that were Yankee Killers.
Then everything was turned on its head. The Yankees got off to a plodding start (5-10) while the Tampa Bay Rays outplayed them (7-8), and to add insult to injury, the Yankees were 1-5 against them. The bigger surprise for the Yankees was that the hapless Red Sox were 10-5 during the same fifteen-game period.
Fifteen games into the season, Yankee fans were filled with doom and gloom and completely puzzled why their best baseball lineup wasn’t performing, and the completely revamped pitching staff was shaky at best. The one bright spot was the Yankee bullpen that was outstanding when called upon, often so often that some feared it would collapse.
Then the baseball world got turned on its head again. From April 22 to the present day, the New York Yankees are the winningest team in baseball (23-9). They have pulled themselves out of the AL East cellar to number three, winning 8 of their last 10 games. But before we get ahead of ourselves, the Boston Red Sox somehow plays great baseball leading the AL East. The Yankees have yet to play the Red Sox but will for six games in June.
What has changed for the New York Yankees is that the pitching has been off the wall excellent as all the rust seems to have been shaken off. The once sluggish lineup has come to life and appears to be in killer mode after so many series wins and culminating in a sweep of the best in the AL Central, Chicago White Sox. It seems that the Yankees will only get better with the return of Giancarlo Stanton, Zack Britton, Clarke Schmidt, and eventually Luis Severino. Let’s take a look at how our players are performing.
Gerrit Cole, A+
Record 6-2, ERA 1.81. Gerrit Cole has been absolutely amazing this season, considering he has gotten pretty poor run support. He is second in all of baseball with 92 strikeouts. He also has gone deeper into games than any other Yankee pitcher.
Corey Kluber, A
Record 4-2, ERA 2.86. After a slow start in the last several games, Corey Kluber has shown that he can be the Cy Young Award pitcher that he has been in the past. Over the weekend, he recorded the Yankees’ 12th no-hitter against the White Sox.
Domingo German, A
Record 4-2, ERA 3.05. After a rough start being sent down to Scranton, he had returned to his 2019 form when he was 18-4. The New York Yankees have won the last six of his starts. He has also saved the bullpen going deep into games.
Jordan Montgomery, B+
Record 2-1, ERA 4.07. Montgomery has been pretty good but also quite inconsistent. Other than Gerrit Cole, he is second in strikeouts but also suffered from a lack of command. Four of his starts have been for five or fewer innings.
Jameson Taillon D+
Record 1-3, ERA 5.06. Jamison Taillon has not fully shaken off all the rust from his lack of pitcher after two Tommy John surgeries. His last outing against the White Sox was one of his best.
Aroldis Chapman A+
Relief record 4-0, ERA 0.47. Chapman, with the addition of his new splitter and has been lights out, going 19 games without giving up a run and recording almost 2.1 strikeouts a game. Last night he proved he was human by giving up his first run of the season.
Jonathan Loaisiga A
Relief record 3-2, ERA 2.49. Loaisiga, ever since spring training, has been manager Boone’s most dependable reliever.
Lucas Luetge B+
Relief record 2-0, ERA 2.95. Luetge, after a long time out of the majors, was given a change by the Yankees, and he has not disappointed this season.
Chad Green B
Relief Record 0-3, ERA 2.25. Chad Green is Chad Green the most dependable reliever the Yankees have had over the last several years. This season he has been put into some challenging situations but still has a love 2.25 ERA.
Luis Cessa C
Relief no record, ERA 3.00. Luis Cessa still isn’t into full relief mode, but history shows he gets better as the season progresses. Still, an ERA of 3.00 is nothing to sneezy at.
Aaron Judge A+
Batting average .308. After a slow start to the season, Aaron Judge has been gain busters lately, hitting 12 home runs and leads the team in hits. If he continues at this pace, he could reach over 40 home runs on the season. He also has been better at contact hitting this season.
Giancarlo Stanton A+
Batting average .282. Before going on the IL with a quad strain, Stanton led the team in home runs and was the spark that ignited the team. Luckily the Yankees should see him back with the team this week.
Gleyber Torres A
Battin average .282. Gleyber Torres got a lot of flack at the begging of the season for poor field play, and he wasn’t hitting. That has all changed; he has been on fire for the last two weeks in the field and at the plate. In the White Sox series, he was responsible for seven of the fourteen runs scored.
Gio Urshela B+
Batting average .277. Gio Urshela continues to shine at the hot corner making amazing play after amazing play. He has also been the most consistent Yankee hitter, performing at key moments.
DJ LeMahieu B
Batting average .260. LeMahieu is still one of the Yankee’s best hitters but is not performing anywhere near like he did last season. He batts a full 100 points below the average he ended up with last year, earning the baseball batting title.
Brett Gardner C
Batting average .208. Gardner is not hitting this year and has yet to hit his first home run of the season. But he is better than several of the bench players. In the field, he hasn’t lost a beat, making incredible plays.
Clint Frazier D
Batting average .171. Frazier has hit pretty poorly so far in the season, although he seems to be coming into form of late. This season’s main asset to the team is his stellar play in the field, making so wild diving catches and taking runs away from opponents.
Gary Sanchez D-
Batting average .181. Gary is Gary, still not hitting and only being average behind the plate. He also doesn’t hit at key moments and has only 14 RBI’s on the season. Yankee fans don’t expect much from him either. He has lost his starting catcher designation, with Kyle Higashioka catching most of Gerrit Cole and Corey Kluber’s starts.
Some players did not get report cards due to not playing in enough games or being in the IL for a prolonged period.