Yankees: Didi Gregorius is quietly having great season

Yankees shortstop, Didi Gregorius, aAfter missing the first month of the season, is quietly having a fantastic season. The 27-year-old has been a major contributor in the bottom half of the lineup, and a major contributor for the first-place Yankees.

Yankees shortstop, Didi Gregorius, after a very successful 2016 campaign, was looking to improve and further help contribute to winning ball games for the team. But when Didi Gregorius strained his shoulder during the World Baseball Classic, fans feared the worst.

The World Baseball Classic comes with a lot of speculation, for the exact scenario that happened with Gregorius. Players getting injured during exhibition games such as the WBC can hurt MLB teams.

Gregorius made his season debut on April 28 and has played in all 41 games since then. Ronald Torreyes did a solid job of holding down the position before turning it back over to Gregorius upon his return.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Mets stealing New York Post’s entire Yankees offseason plan is hilarious
• Predicting Yankees-Diamondbacks LF trade package after Ken Rosenthal update
• Yankees add to championship core with Wilmer Difo signing
• Aaron Judge’s ‘breadcrumbs’ showed he was never leaving Yankees, has more moves in mind
• Creating a Yankees-Bryan Reynolds trade package after latest Pirates update

Didi Gregorius is having a career year thus far in 2017. He is slashing .339/.362/.509 through 41 games, all would be career highs.

Sir Didi has also slugged six home runs, driven in 25 runs, and scored 22 runs himself. But despite his fantastic season thus far, he has flown under the radar.

But Gregorius also owns the Major League’s longest active hitting streak at 15 games, dating back to May 28. His average hasn’t been below .300 since May 20 and hasn’t dropped below .273 all season.

He also ranks in the top five in batting average, OBP, slugging, home runs, runs batted in and WAR among AL shortstops. The Yankees are 25-16 since Gregorius returned from the DL.

Gregorius has been overshadowed by some of his teammates during the 2017 season. Aaron Judge, Matt Holliday, Starlin Castro and Gary Sanchez have all been having fantastic seasons, and have also been soaking up a majority of the media coverage.

The Pinstripes lack of solidity in the bottom half of the lineup was a weakness for the Yankees in 2016. They had trouble finding a guy who could consistently hit for average, and flip the lineup, so the big bats to do some damage.

And that’s exactly what Gregorius has done this year.

Aaron Judge, Matt Holliday, and Starlin Castro have done a majority of the damage in 2017, as the middle of the order should. But to get them more at-bats, the other guys in the lineup need not to get out. Didi Gregorius has been the guy, consistently hitting and allowing these three men to demolish baseballs and punish opponent pitching staffs.

The only thing better than Didi Gregorius’ his post-victory tweets has been his hot bat in 2017. Just because he isn’t hitting 495-foot home runs or driving in 50 runs doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be getting the recognition he deserves.

Yankees: There’s something funny going here with Greg Bird

There's something at least a little strange about the way the Yankees are handling Greg Bird's rehab. Leading one to ask, do they really want him back?

Gregorius has arguably been the team’s best player so far in 2017. Hopefully, Didi can continue his fantastic 2017 campaign, and lead the first-place Yankees to a long playoff run.

Hopefully, Didi can continue his excellent 2017 campaign, and lead the first-place Yankees to a long playoff run.