Yankees Midseason Report Card: Infielders

First up, Yankees first baseman: Mark Teixeira

Mark Teixeira has been one of the worst hitters in baseball over the first three months of 2016, hitting a miserable .197/.278/.330 (62 wRC+) in 227 PAs. That’s a long way off from his MVP-caliber 2015 campaign, where he posted a .255/.357/.548 (148 wRC+) slash line, hit 31 home runs and carried the Yankees offense on his back for much of the season.

The absence of that big bat in the middle of the lineup is perhaps the biggest reason the Yankees have struggled to score runs thus far. As of Wednesday, the club ranks 25th in the majors with a .397 slugging percentage. Teixeira was supposed to be the Yankees’ cleanup hitter and premier power source this season, and that just hasn’t been the case.

So why exactly has Teixeira’s production fallen off a cliff this season? The answer, as it often is with Tex, is a likely injury. Teixeira has dealt with occasional knee problems that date all the way back to 2008 when he was with Atlanta but never has missed much time with them. That changed in May when Tex had to be shut down for several weeks with a cartilage tear in his knee.

Although he eventually returned to the field, the injury is not one that will heal on its own. It will continue to hamper him the remainder of the season until he can undergo the surgery to repair it. That hasn’t been Teixeira’s only injury either, as he’s missed several games with neck spasms this year.

It’s hard to imagine that a healthy Mark Teixeira would be performing this poorly based on what we saw from the Yankees first baseman last season. However, at 36 years old, it’s unlikely we’ll see a healthy Tex again in pinstripes, if ever since he’ll be a free agent at the end of the season.

Midseason Grade: F

Next: Starlin Stumbles