New York Yankees Editorial: What The Stats Can Tell Us About The Yankees Struggles

Watching the New York Yankees play baseball right now is not a fun experience. Yes their best player is out. Yes their ace is out. The Yankees weren’t going to play like they did in April forever, but it’s a break down of all facets of the game. Watching this team play reminds of me watching the Knicks all season long. But besides the injuries, is this just an example of regression?

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On offense, they aren’t walking as much. The Yankees in April walked at a 8.5 % clip which was 10th in the majors. This month? 7.2% which is 17th. They are striking out more as well, but not to an extreme amount. In April it was 16.7% while this month is 19.1%. Their BABIP is only down two points this month (.274 to .272) but when your’re walking less you don’t have the guys on base.

Pitching wise, the ERA is up from 3.23 which was fifth in the game, to 4.89 which is third worst this month. Besides the bad defense, the pitching staff has been a bit unlucky. Their BABIP in April was .292. This month? .309.  Because of this, the home run rate has increased. In April, just 8.6% of fly balls left the yard. In May it’s 14.7% which is third worst in the majors and worst in the American League.

The Yankees also need to go back to getting more groundballs. Yes the defense on the infield is lacking right now, however, if you can keep the ball on the ground when the other team hits it, with the way the Yankees shift you’re going to get outs. In April, 48.5% of balls hit were on the ground. In May its just 44.1%.

This losing skid isn’t just all on the lack of offense up the middle, or the pitching or the injuries. It’s a total team lack of execution all over the place. If some of the rates discussed above even out, the Yankees will start to win again. It’s a bit of a regression all over the place, but hopefully, these rates will start to even out and the Yankees will start to win some games again.

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