What is Causing Didi Gregorius’s Second-Half Slump?

New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius has seen his offensive numbers nosedive after a breakout earlier in the season that earned him a spot in the middle of the team’s lineup.

After going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius is now hitless in his last 12 at-bats. This slump is nothing new for Gregorius, who has looked lost at the plate in the second half.

Prior to the All-Star break, Didi Gregorius was one of the most productive and dynamic shortstops in the American League, hitting .298/.328/.468 with 11 home runs in 317 plate appearances. Since then, Gregorius has seen his slash line decline to .235/.261/.414 in 212 PAs.

The last two weeks have been especially rough for Didi, going 5-for 44 with just two extra-base hits in that time, good for a .114/.146/.182 in 48 PA.

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The timing of this decline is especially bad for the Yankees, who have been short on proven run producers since dumping Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez in the last two months.

That offensive void has prompted Yankees manager Joe Girardi to often hit Gregorius  since the trade deadline. Although that is understandable given the skipper’s limited options, it’s possible that the added pressure of hitting in the four or five spot has caused Didi to press at the plate and do too much.

Fans will remember Gregorius got off to a very slow start to his New York career, hitting .206/.261/.238 over his first month in pinstripes and later admitted that the pressure of replacing Yankees legend Derek Jeter may have impacted him more than he let on at the time. 

Another possibility is that Gregorius is simply a streaky player. His approach at the plate isn’t great. He’s appears jumpy and is still something of a hacker. Those types of guys tend to go through extended slumps when they aren’t squaring the ball up well.

Like his middle infield partner Starlin Castro, Gregorius doesn’t take his walks when opposing pitchers aren’t giving him pitches to hit. His increased power numbers seem to be a result of increased aggressiveness at the plate. 

He’s knocked a career-high 17 homers and seen his slugging percentage jump from .370 last season to .443 in 2016. At the same time, Gregorius has walked in a career-low 3% of his plate appearances. He’s swinging at way more pitches out of the strike zone (36.4% vs. 40.1%) and way more pitches overall (51.6% vs. 55.2%).

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Is this trade-off worth it? Even after the slump, Gregorius’s 94 wRC+ would be a career best, but it’s definitely been trending in the wrong direction for a while now. If he can find a way to be more selective at the plate while maintaining his power spike, it would be a huge boost for the offense over the season’s final month and beyond.