Yankees Ellsbury and Sanchez: Bronx’s New One-Two Punch

Stop. Stop trying to trade Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury; it’s not going to happen. Not only is Ellsbury under contract until 2020, but believe it or not he’s the only leadoff man the Yankees have.

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman sold Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner as the league’s best one-two at the top of the lineup, and it has been a failure. It was on the off-season agenda and an issue Joe Girardi and management are determined to fix going into 2017.

If the Yankees want to see any shades of the Ellsbury of old the solution is simple, give him protection. With Gardner behind Ellsbury, pitchers could afford to pitch around the Yankee leadoff man.

Opponents came in the first inning of work against Yankees thinking at worst there would be two men on base with no outs situation. If the Bronx Bombers want to change the opposing pitcher’s mindset, Ellsbury has to have power behind him in the lineup, and Brett Gardner’s seven home runs last year aren’t going to cut it.

When Ellsbury is on the base path he causes mental nightmares and errors for pitchers. Unlike Brett Gardner has in the two spot, Gary Sanchez can make those nightmares a reality.

It’s going to be hard to picture Gary Sanchez as anything but a pure power hitter after his impressive rookie campaign, but try not to overlook the fact he was a .299 hitter. For most managers, the run producing player always goes in the three of four hole in the batting order, but that’s for clubs who have a de facto number two hitter. The Yankees do not have that luxury.

When you factor in Girardi’s need for mixing lefties and righties in the batting order, Sanchez fits nicely in the two spot behind Ellsbury. Do yourself a favor and think of Gary as a guy who was one hit away from having a .300 batting average rather than a guy who you want to hit 40 home runs.

Yankee faithful should be more concerned with how Sanchez will improve Ellsbury rather than if batting second will affect Gary. Sanchez seemed to get by just fine last year power-wise even with his “protection” struggling behind him. Having Matt Holliday behind Sanchez and Greg Bird (vs. right-handers) or Chris Carter (vs. left-handers) should allow Gary to still see his fair share of decent pitches and fastballs.

Yankee Conundrum: Ellsbury or Gardner?

Jacoby Ellsbury with all his documented struggles performed better in one category last season in pinstripes than he has in his entire career walks. Ellsbury has shown a more disciplined eye at the plate than at any time in his career, including his runner-up MVP season in Boston.

Ellsbury does the little things: walks, legging out singles and his famous, catchers interference. Don’t look for his steals to increase as Girardi has been reluctant recently in the basepath aggression department. The Yankees don’t need Ellsbury to be a 50 steals a year player or even 35, they just need him on-base.

Brett Gardner may have finished with a higher on-base percentage last season, but Ellsbury had fewer strikeouts, more home runs, higher batting average, and more RBI in fewer plate appearances. Must the annual Gardner disappearance even be mentioned? The knock on Ellsbury has always been his health; he played 148 games last season.

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Girardi’s Mind Games

As afore-mentioned, opposing pitcher’s mentality is often a key entity in dealing with in-game strategy. Replace Gardner and Ellsbury’s minor threat of the worst 1^st inning outcome being two runners on no out situation, to that of Ellsbury and Sanchez’s threat of being down 2-0 with no outs and it changes the order profoundly.

Joe Girardi has long been fascinated with how to properly format his lineup. Paramount to Girardi is the mixing of the order to put pressure on the other team’s pitchers and manager. A batting order that features Sanchez and Ellsbury at the top with Brett Gardner and Chase Headley at the bottom accomplishes a lot of the angles Girardi wants to cover.

Batting Sanchez in the two hole also avoids Gardner and Ellsbury being together in any situation by using Headley as a switch-hitting buffer. Only Holliday and Sanchez would repeat sides of the plate in the order, everywhere else would alternate right then left or switch hitters.

Jacoby Ellsbury has played 148 and 149 games two out of the three seasons in the Bronx, so lay off his health.

Next: Enough Already With this Pace Of Play Thing

As important as emerging star Gary Sanchez has been to the Yankees, he may be even more important to Ellsbury’s return to a top-ranked leadoff man. When Ellsbury is on the base path, he causes mental nightmares and errors for pitchers. Unlike Brett Gardner has in the two spot, Gary Sanchez can make those nightmares a reality.