There’s no question the New York Yankees have been one of the most surprising teams in all of baseball in 2017. Dubbed “The Baby Bombers” based on the youth on their roster, so far the young players have delivered better than expected.
Entering Thursday’s action, the Yankees have five regular batters hitting over .300. Starlin Castro leads the pack with an impressive .362 average, but he’s not the only one dazzling with the bat. Aaron Judge is hitting .330, but we’ll have more on him in a bit more. Chase Headley (.304) and Ronald Torreyes (.301) are also above the mark. And we have Didi Gregorius who’s hitting .333, but he’s only played in six games after starting the season on the DL. That kind of offense is a great recipe for success.
The one getting the most praise, however, is Judge. The right fielder has been one of the best players in all of baseball this season, and he’s finally living up to the hype that surrounded him as a prospect. Through 25 games and 88 at-bats, Judge is doing far more than hitting .330. He’s also hit 13 HR and 27 RBI, meaning he can add power to his game. The 27 strikeouts are a concern, but he has 15 walks under his belt to even things out. His OBP of .433 leads the Yankees among qualified hitters, and he leads the franchise in slugging, OPS, and home runs. In short, he’s been amazing.
What’s even more impressive is that we haven’t mentioned Gary Sanchez yet. The talented catcher has missed most of the game with injury, and he’s only hitting .150 so far. But we are talking about a guy who finished second in the AL Rookie Of The Year. And that happened even he got to the big leagues way after the All-Star Break. Sanchez can defend, hit, and is a natural-born leader. He is going to be an important player in the franchise for years to come, that’s undeniable.
Looking at the Yankees as a whole, the Yankees rank first in the AL on slugging (.469), OBP (.355), and OPS (.824). They lead on that stat by a wide margin, since they have an .039 lead over the second-placed Houston Astros. And they rank second in average with a .273 mark. They also pace the AL in home runs (44), RBI (138), and rank third in walks with 112. Anyway you want to put it, the Yankees have one of the best offenses in all of baseball.
Can they sustain that pace over the entire season, though? After all, we’ve only lived one month thus far. And it’s hard to imagine players like Judge, Castro, and Aaron Hicks (5 HR, 12 RBI) like this over the entire campaign. But one thing is for sure. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, the Yankees are here to say. And the future is extremely bright for them, as they will try to recover the place they had only a few years ago.