Ryan Garcia
The New York Yankees are displaying a lot of interest in Ryan Jeffers according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, as he reports the following:
“The Yankees are making it no secret they want Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers at the trade deadline.”
Jeffers is currently on the injured list due to a fractured hamate bone, but he is doing baseball activities and began doing dry swings earlier in the week.
He’s been one of the most productive right-handed hitting catchers in the league over the last few seasons, providing a well-rounded skillset with power, contact, and plate discipline, but he only has half a season of control left.
With the Yankees needing support at the catching position, they will almost certainly be heavily involved in the right-handed market to upgrade over Austin Wells and Ali Sanchez.
Is Ryan Jeffers the Yankees’ Solution At Catcher?
It has been heavily reported for weeks that the Yankees are shopping for a right-handed catcher, as the club originally looked for one over the offseason to no avail.
Now the team is astutely aware of its flaws as a roster, and its eyeing Ryan Jeffers as one of the potential solutions to their catching woes.
The Bronx Bombers have been a top-five offense in wRC+ (115), OPS (.772), and Home Runs (113), but their catching room has produced some of the worst results in the entire league.
New York has a .183/.270/.268 slashline from their catchers, with Ali Sanchez leading the team in WAR (0.2) on FanGraphs in his eight games with the club.
Ryan Jeffers would immediately provide a massive upgrade for this group, and his well-established relationship with catching coordinator Tanner Swanson could create a more seamless transition for a new battery mate.
There are real complications that can arise from changing backstops midseason, especially since one would assume that Jeffers would be acquired to handle the majority of catching duties.
Austin Wells will have some runway between now and the trade deadline to regain some favor inside the organization and perhaps shift their priorities to acquiring a platoon bat instead of a full-time starter.
He’s been activated off of the injured list and will start at catcher today against Cy Young contender Chase Burns, who is looking to provide a highlight performance in the Bronx against the Yankees.
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