Yankees: Can They Bring Back the Old Bronx Bomber Reputation In 2017?

Around the game of baseball, there is tons of talk about the shift and how it’s used. In the city that never sleeps, however, all the talk is about the shift that will bring the Bronx Bomber image back to Yankee Stadium.

Over the last few years, the Yankees have been slowly losing the reputation earned from the great dynasty of the mid-late 90’s. Through a restoration of sorts, Yankee GM Brian Cashman has set the organization up to fully earn that moniker back.

Even the organization’s lower levels like Scranton Wilkes-Barre have gone all in with the big ball club in the Bronx, enacting a new fitting logo. The logo which is gathering all kinds of positive reviews serves as a visual identification of the Yankees philosophy going forward; the power is back.

Scranton Wilkes-Barre the Yankees triple-A affiliate will use the image of a grizzly-bearded man-baby with powerful arms sporting the pinstripes. It’s the logo we’ve all been waiting for, almost as much as fans have been waiting for more moments like Raul Ibanez‘s walk-off ALDS home run against the Baltimore Orioles in 2012.

Strategy on most if not all of the Yankee championship team’s centered around the long ball, and was done the Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle way.

Brian Cashman with the help of Con Edison has turned the power back on in the Bronx.      No, not really, but the lights will shine a little brighter this season from the shift back to a lineup featuring power hitters.

Last season the Yankees were anything but the Bronx Bombers of old. New York ranked   19^th in the league in home runs and 24^th in      RBI. With numbers like those, it is no surprise the Yankees blew up the roster to go in another direction.

No Lack of Power in the City for Yankees

Although it’s very early in the spring, the Yankees path is obvious, and it’s already bearing fruit. Through three games the New York Yankees are ranked number 2 in home runs, and number 3 in RBI for both the grapefruit and cactus leagues.

Lineups in the past featuring table setters and station to station guys are being replaced by the likes of all or nothing guys like Chris Carter, Aaron Judge, and Matt Holliday. Like your favorite rapper said, “scared money don’t make no money.”

Matt Holiday started his career at Coors Field for the Colorado Rockies where he twice hit 34+ home runs. Yankee Stadium is often put into the same category as Coors, as being a park which inflates home run totals. Playing in St. Louis since 2010 Holliday kept his home run total in the mid to high 20’s range, but the Yankees would sign up for somewhere in the middle of the two this season.

Chris Carter has made the most of his playing throughout his major league career. Carter has shown to be a player ready for the moment when he is called upon, and that bodes well stepping into a much hotter spotlight in New York.

Finally receiving an everyday job in Houston changed Carter’s game forever. Carter has never hit less than 24 home runs when receiving at least 390 at bats in a season. 29, 37, 24, and last year’s National League leading 41 home runs are what he has hit in his last four seasons respectively.

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The recent additions may hike up the strikeouts and lower the overall batting average of the team as we’ve already seen in spring training 2017, but the trade-off is one the Yankees like.

Opposing pitchers have little to no intimidation in comparison to the past when facing the Yankees in the big ballpark in the Bronx. Having the potential of 20+ home runs from the Yankees 6^th, 7^th, and even 8^th spot in the batting order changes all that.

Girardi Sets Young Guys Straight on Goals

Yankee Manager Joe Girardi in an interview with the YES Network spoke of the Yankees goals always being championships.

Girardi went on to say in NY it is never good enough to just win the division, it’s about winning it all. Strategy on most if not all of the Yankee championship team’s centered around the long ball, and was done the Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle way.

In 2016 some of the young guys got a taste of what it takes to win a championship playing for National Champion triple-A affiliate Scranton Wilkes-Barre. The organization hopes to transfer some of that winning attitude bred in the minors to the MLB club. Attitude and identity go hand in hand and for the Yankees both are based on their power and ability to go yard at any time.

Next: Jacoby Ellsbury Sounds A Bit Testy These Days

By no means are the 1927 Yankees stepping on the field in New York City this year, but these Baby Bombers could resemble the gritty grimy hard-nosed Yanks of yesteryear. After seeing Aaron Judge’s moon shot against the Phillies, how Gary Sanchez put up 20 bombs in 53 games, and adding Holliday and Carter, this year’s Yankees look a lot closer to 1927 than they did in 2016.