The Best Ways to Optimize the Yankees’ Lineup

Yankees Manager Joe Girardi continues to tinker with the batting order, hoping to build off the historical start by Gary Sanchez. Yet, for some reason, he situates batters out of order.

The Yankees have played in 125 games this season. Do you know how many different lineups Joe Girardi has implemented in that time? Try 97 different lineups on for size. The most frequent lineup posted for 2016 (at least to this point) was only used in four games. That batting order won’t feature again since Alex Rodriguez was batting clean up, and Rob Refsnyder was at first base.

One of the biggest reasons that the Yankees currently sit 7.5 games out of first place in the AL East and 5.5 games of a Wild Card spot can be directly attributed to a lack of lineup consistency.

These are professional baseball players we’re talking about here, they expect a certain amount of all-knowing power when they arrive at the ballpark each day.

Sure, it’s easy for you to say it shouldn’t have any bearing on their overall game because their highly paid professional athletes, but when you mess with a players emotions, and all of a sudden they are unsure as to where they’ll be batting on a daily basis or if they’re even playing, you’ve severely stunted their growth.

On Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners, the Yankees lineup looked like this:

CF Ellsbury, SS Gregorius, DH Sanchez, 2B Castro, 1B Teixeira, C McCann, RF Judge, LF Hicks, 3B Torreyes

Obviously, Brett Gardner didn’t play so this changes up things quite a bit. A few weeks ago I wrote a piece calling for Gardner to no longer bat leadoff. I still feel strongly about this. Check out the article as to why.

Starting from back to front, Ronald Torreyes is playing in place of Chase Headley, so the No. 9 spot for him is fine. Torreyes has some speed, and if he continues to slash as he has over the past week, he’ll act as a fine second leadoff hitter of sorts.

Aaron Hicks is hitting almost .300 since the Carlos Beltran trade. See, good things can happen with a bit more consistent playing time. Of course, his overall .211 batting average on the season has burned many a Yankees fan’s bridges, but don’t give up on him just yet. Hicks, 26, is a switch-hitter with surprising power, can play all three outfield positions with ease, and has a plus arm. Basically, he has more upside at this point in his career than that of Gardner.

Aaron Judge is batting .258 with that one lone home run, but he has legitimate power that will soon prove his worth is much more than that of a No. 7 hitter. I like that Girardi isn’t pressuring him into a cleanup spot just yet. Judge needs more time to adjust to the rigors of Major League pitching.

Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira are pretty much interchangeable at Nos. 5 and 6 depending on the pitching matchup. But whatever you do, don’t take the weight of a veteran stick sitting in the heart of order lightly. These guys know how to stay cool in even the most pressure packed situations. 

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I absolutely hate Starlin Castro in the No. 4 hole. Yes, he’s been on a tear as of late, even setting a career high for home runs (17). But come on, driving the ball out of the park isn’t Castro’s iota. He’s a single’s and double’s hitter. By placing him in that all too important clean-up role, it changes the way Castro approaches each at bat. He now knows it’s his job to drive in runs. While he does have 56 RBI on the season, the majority of them have come organically, from the Nos. 2, 5, or 6 spots in the lineup.

Gary Sanchez’s emergence as an offensive juggernaut is perfectly suited for the No. 3 spot. Will he ever cool down? Yes, or course he will. But we’re getting a glimpse of what to expect from the Kraken for the next 10 years or so.

Having Didi Gregorius at No. 2 allows him to hit to all fields, which in turn will result in more home runs and RBI as he continues to fine-tune his approach against left-handed pitching.

And of course, there’s Jacoby Ellsbury. He must become the everyday table setter. It’s the main reason as to why the Yankees paid $165 million, thinking they were pilfering him away from the Boston Red Sox. I honestly believe that if Ellsbury knows day in and day out that he’s the leadoff hitter, his overall numbers will steadily improve.

With rosters expanding next week, we’ll probably see many more iterations of various Yankees’ lineups in the near future. But until then, here’s how I feel Joe Girardi should maximize his offensive resources against righthanded pitchers:

CF Ellsbury, SS Gregorius, C Sanchez, 1B Teixeira, 2B Castro, DH McCann, RF Judge, 3B Headley, LF Gardner

And against lefthanded pitchers:

CF Ellsbury, 2B Castro, C Sanchez, DH Teixeira, SS Gregorius, RF Judge, 3B Headley, 1B Austin, LF Hicks

Next: Mike Trout Like What He Sees in Young Yankees

By strategically breaking up your righty’s and your lefty’s, you create a harmonious balance within your batting order, capable of handling any assortment of pitching the opposition throws your way; especially out of the bullpen.