Yankees: It’s time to show some support to Aaron Boone

But we cannot forget, that confidence is everything in baseball, and having a manager that will always have your back, despite the struggles and the mounting media pressure on Boone himself, goes a long way with players. This is better than say when Girardi publically called out Gary Sanchez for his defensive miscues last year and forced him to answer questions about it.

Every player knows when they screw up, and a manager can certainly send a similar message to the player in a private meeting away from the frenzied NY media, as Girardi’s remarks did end up on the back pages of newspapers.

This seems to be the major difference between the two managers, and likely the reason the Yankees went with Boone due to his superior interpersonal skills. This may be picky, but Girardi just kept too many players on edge with his gritty, no-nonsense attitude that doesn’t play as well with this young, personable team.

One thing that Boone has clearly emphasized as manager: he wants his hitters to control the strike zone. In other words, be selective and only swing at strikes. The Yankees skipper said as much throughout Spring Training:

"“I want us to be obsessed with controlling the strike zone. That’s one of the bumper stickers, if you will. I know Marcus [Thames, the hitting coach] and P.J. [Pilittere, Thames’ assistant] are really driving that message home with our guys. We want to be great at that.”"