Tyler Wade just proved haters wrong for one night only

Any Yankees fans who questioned why the club’s Saturday showdown against the lowly Orioles was scheduled for primetime and not in the afternoon were vindicated, as New York ultimately coasted to a 8-2 victory.

The ratings had to be through the roof.

This was the kind of performance you’d expect from a team that just capped a thrilling comeback victory the night prior. For as exhilarating as that win was, fans no doubt loved that the Yankees were in cruise control from the first inning.

It was simply a convincing win. Nothing overly spectacular happened. Aaron Judge clubbed another home run. Domingo German delivered another quality start, and every starter in the lineup recorded a hit…except for Clint Frazier, who still can’t seem to get out of his own way.

However, if there was one narrative from this game that stood out among the rest, it was the show-stopping performance from Tyler Wade. The polarizing infielder finished the night 3-for-4 with a run scored, raising his average to .316 for the season.

Tyler Wade shined in the Yankees’ victory over Baltimore on Saturday night.

It’s certainly a small sample size, but you better believe the Yankees’ analytics team will be gushing over Wade’s contributions in the nine hole. The club’s premium contact hitter putting together the second three-hit game of his career? That’s what dreams are made of.

If we were to poll Yankees fans on Twitter to see if they were genuinely happy to see Wade temporarily silence his critics, how many of them do you think would say yes? Be honest.

Let’s remember we’re talking about a player who bunted into a pop out on a 3-1 count on Friday night. The same player who deprived Aaron Judge of an outfield assist (on Friday night) because he couldn’t manage something as simple as a swipe tag at second base tallied three hits tonight and now flaunts a .316/.381/.316 slash line this season.

Those numbers obviously don’t reflect Wade’s overall performance in 2021. He was slashing .200/.294/.200 with a .494 OPS over 15 at bats coming into the game, so a three-hit showing was going to balloon those numbers regardless.

Most of you probably knew that. We just felt the need to reiterate it.

All you need is one quick scroll through Twitter to know the majority of Yankees don’t believe Wade deserves a spot on the roster. While they may be right, the 26-year-old utility man figures to play a prominent role until Gleyber Torres returns from his COVID-19-induced absence.

You know what that means, right? Wade looking like a world-beater in lopsided victories against lesser opponents and coming up short when it matters most. At least he proved his doubters wrong for one night, though.

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