The Yankees’ offense has come alive over their eight-game win streak, but they have not even reached their full potential yet in 2018.
The Yankees rank first in just about every measurable offensive category so far in 2018, (Runs Scored, HRs, OBP, SLG, and OPS) but they have yet to reach their peak.
Let’s take a look at players who are yet to hit their stride one month into the 2018 season.
Brett Gardner: Gardy averaged three and a half HRs per month last season, finishing with 21 in total. While his current. 355 OBP is five points higher than his 2017 campaign, his SLG and OPS are down, due in part to him having hit just one HR so far this season and that HR came almost a month ago (March 29th) on opening day. Look for him to display his power potential here shortly.
Gary Sanchez: While he is starting to rake, he brings a .207 BA, .270 OBP, and .759 OPS into Monday. It is clear that Gary’s floor over the course of a full season is a .270 BA, .340 OBP, and a .875 OPS. While even those numbers may be conservative, the Yankees offense will benefit from the upside that they will gain from the bat of Gary Sanchez the rest of the way.
Giancarlo Stanton: If the season ended today, Giancarlo’s .767 OPS would be his career low over nine seasons. Good News is, April just ended and he has a lifetime .910 OPS. He also hit 59 HRs a season ago, so you would have to believe his five HRs in the first month of the season is trending well below his ceiling. He will heat up, like that time he hit 18 HRs in the month of August last season.
Second Base: A season ago, the Yankees got full production out of this position in the month of April. Starlin Castro batted .362, drove in 16 Runs and found himself batting cleanup by months end. Neil Walker, Ronald Torreyes, and Tyler Wade combined for 0 HRs and eight RBIs while splitting time at second base for the majority of April. So what is the upside? Gleyber Torres. While we haven’t identified his full capabilities just yet, they will likely prove to be superior to the three names I just mentioned. He is the second basemen the rest of the way, and that’s a good thing.
Sure, Didi Gregorius may come back to life. Hearing that he won’t sustain this level of offensive production (10 HRs, 30 RBIs, .367 BA, and 1.286 OPs through April) is a fair assessment. The good news is, with a number of “underperforming” players who are only going to get better, we don’t need him to.
The sky is still the limit for this Yankees’ offense.