Aaron Hicks Could Shape the Yankees’ Off-Season

Maybe the Yankees should have traded 2016 All-Star Carlos Beltran sooner. In the weeks following Beltran’s exit to the Texas Rangers, extended playing time has given Aaron Hicks an opportunity to find his form at the plate.

If Aaron Hicks had hit in the start of the season the way he is now, the narrative beginning to his Yankees tenure would’ve had an alternate storyline. Blessed with a cannon arm and forced to switch-hit at the age of 13 by his father,  a sustained resurgence from Hicks could still impact the team’s off-season conversations.

Since Aug. 1, he has gone 13-for-45 (.289) with three multi-hit games (he previously had six all year) and thumped three homers (doubling his total to a half-dozen).

Hicks was a career .225 hitter with the Twins, but in 2015 he hit lefties hard enough to attract the Yankees’ attention. Rather than chase departing fourth-outfielder Chris B. Young in free agency, the Yankees decided Hicks could fill a similar role with upgraded defense for a cheaper price. 

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Ergo, they traded John Ryan Murphy from their catching depth to make it happen. The deal hasn’t worked out for either club, but for what it’s worth, the Yankees are leading the race as early winners. Murphy hit a microscopic .075 to start his Twins career and sports a lowly .214 average with their Triple-A affiliate.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman viewed Hicks as an everyday player immediately upon acquisition, which added spice to the already-rampant Brett Gardner trade rumors. Obviously, Gardner stayed.

Hicks has nosedived beneath all expectations in his Bronx debut. However, Cashman is still holding onto hope that somewhere deep down, a dormant Jackie Bradley Jr. is ready to awaken.

"“(Hicks) hasn’t played out to the level that I expected at all. That doesn’t mean that he can’t and won’t break out. He’s in a situation where I would caution everybody to look at what Jackie Bradley Jr. did two years ago and then last year … as an everyday guy struggling to make it through and get his feet on the ground and get his sea legs under him. He’s an extremely talented player, and the Red Sox deserve a lot of credit for being patient with him,” said Cashman in early August."

JBJ was a bust in his first 238 games with Boston. The scrawny Virginia native had two sub-.200 seasons before ironing out a mechanical hitch in his swing. The result was a more linear bat path that barreled up more balls for extra bases. This year, Bradley Jr. has an .874 OPS and 18 home runs, and was invited to his first Mid-Summer Classic.

Hicks has made a similar adjustment in his swing, and the results have been encouraging. Per Fangraphs, the 26-year-old has raised his hard-hit percentage to 27.7 percent. That’s up 2.4 percent from 2015 and good for second-highest in his career.

As is, Hicks is crowded out of a starting role by Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and 6-foot-7 phenom Aaron Judge, who Cashman has committed to as the club’s right fielder. Should Hicks continue his revival though, it could give him enough power to dethrone Gardner as starting left fielder once-and-for-all this winter.

Ellsbury’s contract is too burdensome to move, but Gardner’s remaining $23 million over two years is a fair market value. If the Yankees believe in Hicks, Gardner would be the most logical piece to deal.

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Triple-A standout Ben Gamel has performed exceptionally well the past two seasons. He could be next in line if the Yanks continue to go younger and don’t see Hicks as the solution. Gamel’s skill set — grit, speed and contact — is optimized in a daily role, unlike Hicks, who hasn’t exactly been a must-play candidate this season.

Then there’s Clint “Red Thunder” Frazier, the pearl of the Andrew Miller trade, who is considered a future star outfielder. Call me a lunatic, but if Hicks taps into his inner-JBJ, the Yankees could shock the industry by flipping Frazier for a front-line starter.

With Luis Severino falling flat, and Luis Cessa and Chad Green being the only other starters inked beyond 2017 — Masahiro Tanaka can opt-out — pitching is the team’s glaring weakness.

It would take a miraculous turn-around from Hicks for the Yankees to even consider moving Frazier. That scenario only happens if they’re contending around the ’17 Trade Deadline, desperate for a mega-deal and receiving quality production from the third outfield spot.

Next: Severino Becoming Yanks' Latest Failed Starter

It’s probably too soon to be considering such drama, but the point is that Aaron Hicks is at the helm of his career. He has about 11 months to prove his worth to the organization; otherwise, it will move on without him.