It Is Time to End the Aaron Hicks Experiment

Promising New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks simply hasn’t produced at the plate in 2016. With so many talented outfielders in the upper minors, he may be in danger of losing his roster spot in the near future.

The trade that brought Aaron Hicks to the Yankees in exchange for backup catcher John Ryan Murphy was one of general manager Brian Cashman’s shrewdest moves of the winter, even knowing what we know now.

Murphy had a nice season as New York’s backup catcher in 2015, but with the durable Brian McCann in front of him and top prospect Gary Sanchez behind him, he was clearly expendable. Even spare part Austin Romine has been able to provide a reasonable facsimile of Murphy’s production as a reserve this year.

Hicks, on the other hand, provided the Yankees with a lottery ticket. He was a four-time Baseball America Top 100 Prospect, peaking at 19 before the 2010 season, and was showing signs of a breakout after two disappointing partial seasons to start is MLB career. 

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The former first round pick (14th overall in 2008) hit .256/.323/.398 (97 wRC+) in 2015 which, combined with his strong defense, made him look capable of being a solid regular.

At the very least, the Yankees seemed to be getting an excellent platoon option. Hicks hit .307/.375/.495 (137 wRC+) against lefties in 2015, which was consistent with his career splits. Even if he couldn’t play every day, he looked to be a crucial weapon for a Yankees team that had struggled mightily against left handed pitching at times the previous season.

Instead, Hicks has been one of the Yankees worst hitters against southpaws. He’s put up an astoundingly bad .141/.209/.205 (9 wRC+!) slash in 86 plate appearances. His overall line is a slightly better, but still unplayable .189/.254/.291(43 wRC+).

The icing on this terrible cake is that the Yankees have so many better options available to them. Hicks has minor league options remaining, so he can be sent to Triple-A without losing him completely. They can allow him to get his confidence back without hurting the team this year and continue to hope he’s a long-term asset.

In the meantime, the Yankees could give some of those starts to Rob Refsnyder, who has looked more than capable in right field. He’s not really hitting either though, so the team might be better served by taking a look at Triple-A standouts Ben Gamel, Jake Cave, and Tyler Austin, who are all having exceptional seasons with Scranton Wilkes-Barre.