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

The popular narrative surrounding Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s inaugural season is that he has been overmatched, leading to a number of fans wishing Joe Girardi was still in pinstripes.

However, despite some of his questionable calls throughout the season, he has mostly been making the right moves ever since the Yankees embarked on their dominant streak during their toughest stretch of the season. Some fans might be slow to give him any credit, but Boone’s presence has already made a positive impact on the Yankees offense and in the clubhouse.

Yes, he hasn’t been perfect, showing there is indeed a learning curve for new managers when it comes to in-game maneuvering. He has seemed to improve in this department since some early-season blunders, but he definitely has a ways to go before he’s a tactical maestro.

But let’s face it… when you’re a manager, especially of the New York Yankees, all of your moves will be scrutinized. That is unless they work out, but we will never hear about that.

Do I wish he would send out Dellin Betances for a second inning against the Red Sox? Of course not, but us fans are geared to be short-sighted. The Yankees bullpen would be scary with a dominant Betances, and the only way to get him back to form is for him to have success in these sort of high-leverage situations.

Boone made a calculated gamble with a tired bullpen to try to get one of his relievers back on track, and he was a few inches away from being the smart guy if the ball had only landed in Aaron Judge’s glove or if it was hit in any other stadium besides the Bronx. I’m not saying I would make the same move, but it’s far from an indefensible error.

It’s time to give Boone some credit. He just led this Yankees team to a 17-2 record against some of the toughest teams the AL has to offer. He consistently proclaims that struggling players are close to turning it around, and in some cases, he’s been proven right. For example, he refused to give up on Neil Walker and lately that seems to have paid off.

Walker has been a huge spark plug for the Yanks in almost all of their late-inning comebacks, after struggling through April and being a prominent target of angry fans. His emergence culminated in a walk-off single in yesterday’s extra-inning game against the Athletics. This is just one example of Boone’s optimism and unwavering support of his players paying off.

He’s become adept at dodging dangerous questions from reporters about the struggling player of the day and instead has used those questions to praise the player’s hard work and build up their confidence.

He’s also kept the clubhouse incredibly loose and easy-going despite all of the position battles, roster questions, and huge expectations heaped upon the team, allowing the team to really click off the field. This is evident on the field too, with this team’s “never quit” swagger becoming one of the hallmarks of the early season as the Yanks continue to rack up comeback victories.

Since it is so hard to quantify the effect this can have on a team, most tend to focus on the obvious effects manager’s decisions can have on a game. Mainly through their in-game moves, which can be an imperfect exercise.

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.”

There’s little doubt Torres will settle down and see more pitches as the rookie jitters fade away and he gets more comfortable at the plate. The same can likely be said for fellow Yankees rookie, Miguel Andujar, who currently has a 2.4% walk rate while finishing with a 6.8% walk rate in AAA last year.

One player who has seen substantial improvement under Boone’s lead: Didi Gregorius. After only accumulating 25 walks in all of 2017, Didi already has 20 this year and is sporting a 12.4% walk rate, compared to 4.4% last year and 3.2% in 2016. Looking even deeper, his swing rate has dropped substantially from 58.2% in 2017 to 50.7% this year, swinging at both balls and strikes less frequently. Boone’s edict of remaining selective at the plate has seemed to have gotten thru to Didi.

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Has everything gone perfectly for Aaron Boone so far? No, but just as players often get better with experience, we can expect Boone to do the same with his in-game decision making. For now, he has established a strong clubhouse culture with the team on pace to win 112 games, the best record in baseball despite all the injuries and prolonged slumps.

It’s time that we stop the hate and give Boonie our support as the Yankees manager.