State of the Yankees as of April 23

22 games into the 2023 MLB season, the New York Yankees stand with a respectable 13-9 record, trailing behind the Orioles and the seemingly-unbeatable Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East division, by far the most competitive division in baseball, as all 5 teams currently hold a winning record. With the loss to the Blue Jays, the Yankees have dropped their first series of the season, as all other series have been won 2 games to 1, with the exception of the four-game set against the Twins which was split 2-2. As always, though, there are plenty of things to discuss with this team so far.

Pitching:

The rotation stretches across all ends of the successful spectrum. On one hand, Gerrit Cole is undoubtedly the best pitcher in the MLB, posing a ridiculous 0.79 ERA over 34 innings. He also has yet to give uo a homer this year, which is great considering the fact that the long ball has often been his biggest problem on the mound. The number two role has been respectably held down by Nestor Cortes so far, as a 3.09 ERA to start is more than serviceable. With the injuries to Carlos Rodon, Luis Severino, and Frankie Montas, though, the rest of the rotation has been up for grabs, and some have taken this opportunity better than others. Domingo German has been somewhat hit-or-miss, as one day he’ll let up 7 runs before the conclusion of the 3rd inning, and the next he’ll make 11 batters grab some bench before the 7th inning stretch. The same could be said about newcomer Jhony Brito, a young arm who has been actually doing very well besides a horrible outing against the Twins in which he gave up 7 runs before exiting the first. Other than that fluke, though, Brito has given up 2 earned runs over 14.1 innings, so it is clear he deserves a spot over the final arm, Clarke Schmidt. He’s been below-average at best so far, apart from his scoreless start today, which honestly gives me hope for him to bounce back. However, it’s clear his role on the team is not to start, as he has found success as a middle-inning guy in years past for the team, so once better arms return from the IL, it is likely he will see his return to the bullpen.

The bullpen, on the other hand, has been performing at a high level. Trusty arms like Wandy Peralta, Ron Marinaccio, and Michael King have been near lights-out, while closer Clay Holmes has had a rough start to the season. His stuff is too good to worry about, though, so as long as his control is there, he has clear top closer potential, as we vividly saw during the first half of last season. Other surprise arms like Ian Hamilton and Greg Weissert have been above average, showing that pitching can be what puts this team over the edge in the playoffs. This is all occurring with players such as Scott Effross, Tommy Kahnle, Lou Trivino, and Jonathan Loaisiga out for an extended time. Injuries plague the Yankees, as usual, but the return of arms like these can hopefully solidify an already stellar bullpen. 

Hitting:

While the pitching has been there, the same sadly can not be said for the offensive production. This team’s offense clearly centers around the captain, Aaron Judge, who is having a slower start to the season than expected. He’s cranked out 8 home runs so far, but is currently slashing .244 / .344 / .844. There is nothing to be concerned about here, as we know what Judge is capable of and even a small piece of what we saw last season will be more than enough. Other bright spots in the lineup, although few, have been Anthony Rizzo (by far the best-performing hitter so far), DJ Lemahieu, and Gleyber Torres. With the injury to Giancarlo Stanton (who would’ve thought), the Yankees are missing a big power bat in the lineup that is seemingly being filled by waiver-wire pickup Willie Calhoun, who is hitting a spectacular .136 with no home runs. Average-wise, saying this team has been abysmal is an understatement, as Jose Trevino and Oswald Peraza are hitting .205 and .200, respectively, while Aaron Hicks, IKF, Franchy Cordero, Anthony Volpe, Josh Donaldson, and Higgy are all well under the .200 mark, which is honestly impressive that so many players are hitting so poorly. The Yankees on the daily are trotting out at least 3 or 4 players who are more likely than not to go 0-4 on the day, which is not a recipe for success to say the least. Hopefully Donaldson can step it up once he returns from the IL, even though he has not shown promise over the past year, but Harrison Bader’s presence will be felt soon once he locks down the CF position. Peraza and Volpe are still very young, so some development and time is needed in order to fairly judge their levels of production. Overall, it’s clear the hitting has been the issue with this team, and more consistent production is needed to put the Bronx Bombers in the running for 1st place in the division. We will see what the rest of April and beginning of May have in store for the Yankees.