Yankees: Didi Gregorius was the undisputed MVP of April

The MVP award is never won in April, but right now there’s no doubt that the honor in the AL would have to go to Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius.

Where would this surging Yankees team be without Sir Didi?

During the entire month of April and their current nine-game winning streak, the one constant in this Yankees lineup has been Didi. There’a lot of players clicking right now to help the team get to 18-9 but in April, no one was more valuable than their shortstop.

He’s had a historic first month of the season, posting offensive numbers no Yankee has ever accomplished other than Alex Rodriguez in 2007. His 10 home runs and 30 RBI not only lead the team in each category, but they also lead the entire MLB, and his .340 batting average is sixth across baseball.

Night after night Didi has been the best player on a roster full of All-Stars. We knew Didi could hit and play gold glove caliber defense, but I’m not sure anybody saw this level of offensive production coming. To an extent, it’s somewhat surprising, but when you look at how much he’s improved in each season he’s been a Yankee, the shock wears off a bit. Every year he just keeps getting better and now at 28-years-old, he’s on the verge of becoming a full-blown superstar.

The Yankees and their fans couldn’t have asked for a better replacement for Derek Jeter and like the Captain, Didi has become one of the leaders and most beloved players on the team. He leads with his play and when the team needs somebody to come up big in the clutch nobody has done so more over the past two seasons than Didi. Friday night he capped off a month of clutch moments when his 10th inning home run against the Angels catapulted the Yankees to a big-time win to start a difficult seven-game road trip.

If the game is on the line it’s Didi and not Judge, Stanton, or Sanchez who is the most feared hitter right now in the Yankees lineup. Whether it’s a rightie (.344 AVG against) or a lefty (.333 AVG) on the mound it doesn’t matter. Because he rarely strikes out and his plate discipline is much improved there aren’t many holes in his swing for pitchers to exploit. He’s already walked 18 times and his OBP is at .436 after only posting 25 BBs and a .318 OBP in 2017.

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After starting the season batting sixth on Opening Day Didi has now moved up to the three hole in the everyday lineup. Since manager Aaron Boone moved him to third and dropped Giancarlo Stanton down to the cleanup spot the Yankees offense has taken off.

It was a very smart move by the new skipper to split up Judge and Stanton with the lefty-hitting Didi because now there’s really no way for the opposition to pitch around the hottest hitter in baseball.

Didi was going to hit wherever he was put in the order, but batting third he’s getting a ton of fastballs to hit in the zone and he’s barreling them up while also increasing his fly ball rate. That’s enabled him to hit nine of his ten home runs at Yankee Stadium and put him on a current pace to hit a whopping 60 by season’s end.

That seems unlikely to happen, but there is no doubt that Didi is primed for another career year in all of the major offensive categories. Who knew back in 2015 when he hit only nine home runs that he would project to be a 30 to 40 home run hitter down the road. It’s been a remarkable transformation to watch as he continues to amaze and blossom into one of the top players in the game today.

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It’s only one month, but there’s no reason to believe that Didi can’t stay near the top of the MVP race over the course of the season. I’m sure we’ll soon see a couple of his teammates join him in those discussions but right now he is the undisputed early leader in the clubhouse.

Of course, none of that matters to Didi because the only thing he really cares about is doing whatever he can to help his team win a championship.