Yankees Have No Answers for Aaron Hicks’ Struggles

Brought over in a small offseason trade, Aaron Hicks was expected to provide the Yankees with quality production as a fourth outfielder with room to grow. Instead, Hicks has been a major disappointment so far in his first year in pinstripes.

When general manager Brian Cashman acquired Aaron Hicks for John Ryan Murphy in November of 2015, it was considered a small move, but one that gave the Yankees another young, cost-controlled asset who had untapped potential.

Or so they thought.

To say Aaron Hicks has underperformed in the first have would be a severe understatement. So far, the switch-hitter has produced an extremely weak slash line of .197/.261/.301 with a WAR of -0.4. It would have been unrealistic to expect that Hicks would become a greatly improved hitter right away, but no one could have predicted his below replacement level numbers.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Red Sox living in different financial ‘galaxy’ than Yankees Killer Rafael Devers
• Yankees slice surprising fan favorite off roster to make room for Tommy Kahnle
• Yankees announce corresponding move, make Carlos Rodón signing official
• Aaron Judge puts more pressure on Yankees after being named Captain
• Carlos Correa-Giants-Mets bombshell makes Aaron Judge’s return to Yankees even better

From 2014-2015 with the Minnesota Twins, Hicks hit .279 and .301 against lefties, respectively. So, Brian Cashman was right to trade for him, as the Yankees lineups had been struggling against lefties the season prior.

This season however, Hicks has hit just .218 against left-handed pitching, a significant drop off from his numbers in Minnesota. Oddly enough, Hicks has done a lot better against righties this season, hitting .288 against them.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi hasn’t been able to utilize Hicks as a left-handed specialist and as a result, Rob Refsnyder has taken a lot of at-bat’s away from him. If Refsnyder continues to out hit Hicks, he’ll basically render Hicks’ roster spot useless, as Ref can play more positions. 

However, despite Hicks’ awful production, Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman won’t give up on him, as they have a habit of giving mediocre players too much playing time. Girardi spoke to the LoHud Blog on his thoughts regarding Hicks:

"“I think he adds a lot if he could play up to his potential, and at times he has…You look at what he did on Sunday and what he can do and how you can run him all over the outfield and he’s going to run balls down, and he’s got a great arm.”"

Despite what Girardi said, Hicks has already been given the chance to show his potential, and he hasn’t taken advantage of it. Sure, he’s got a great arm in the outfield, but what’s the use if he can’t hit at the league average?

Next: Rob Refsnyder is Finally Getting His Shot

The more playing time Hicks’ gets and the more he struggles, the more challenging it will be for the Yankees to back him up.