Yankees: 4 slash lines you wouldn’t believe are real three weeks into 2021 season

3. Aaron Hicks

Let’s look at the bright side again to start this one off before we dive into the ugly. Aaron Hicks has a .500 on-base percentage in his last eight plate appearances. We will take it!

But he’s still got quite the journey ahead of him. Through his first 16 games (totaling 65 plate appearances), the veteran is slashing .161/.277/.232. Two extra-base hits all year (one double and one homer). What’s even more wild? He was batting under .100 for quite some time. A .161 batting average almost feels like .275 at this point.

Hicks’ struggles from the left side of the plate have been the most alarming because that’s where the Yankees need him most. His ability as a switch hitter has forced the team to rely upon him to balance out the lineup, which isn’t his fault at all — it’s the front office’s for not building a roster that has true lefties capable of producing. But Hicks has always been better as a lefty, until 2021.

Let’s look at the differences:

• Hitting lefty vs RHP – .108/.250/.108 in 44 plate appearances
• Hitting righty vs LHP – .263/.333/.474 in 21 plate appearances

And his claim to fame — his defensive abilities — have seemingly dissipated. To put it nicely, he’s been a bad center fielder so far this season. And we’re not sure when it’ll get better.

Thankfully, this is still a small sample size and there’s plenty of time to turn it around … but the early returns are as discouraging as it gets.