Didi Gegorius Archives - River Avenue Blues

Yankeemetrics: Hello, Bronx Bombers (April 2-4)

April 5, 2018 by Katie Sharp Leave a Comment

#Didi4MVP
The Yankees kicked off the Bronx portion of the 2018 schedule with a 11-4 rout of the Rays on Tuesday afternoon, thanks to an incredible performance by Didi Gregorius. It was their most runs scored in a home opener in nearly two decades, since a 12-3 win over the Tigers in 1999.

Before we stat-binge on Didi’s record-breaking day, let’s not forget to mention another stellar outing by a Yankee starter. Jordan Montgomery battled through five innings, allowing just one run while holding the Rays hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position. As Mike mentioned in the recap, the most notable thing about his start was the use of his changeup, which he said “was gone” last year.

Well, it looks like he found it in 2018. Of his 80 total pitches, 17 were changeups, a 21 percent usage rate that was well above last season’s average of 15 percent. And the results on those 17 changeups were encouraging.

He generated four whiffs — a 24 percent swinging strike rate that was much better than his 2017 numbers (15.3%) and the league average whiff rate on changeups (15.8%). Only two changeups were put in play, and both resulted in groundball outs. Stuff-wise, he got excellent drop on the pitch, averaging 7.2 inches of vertical movement, the lowest mark in any of his 30 MLB starts.

He also did a good job of keeping the pitch away from righties, painting the outside corner for a couple called strikes and getting those grounders on pitches down in the zone:

Now it’s time for the main event. Let’s unpack Sir Didi’s epic day – 4-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored, two homers, a double and eight RBI – a performance so noteworthy it deserves bullet points.

The eight RBI are the most ever by a Yankee shortstop in a game
Didi is the second player in MLB history with eight RBI in a game this early into the season (team game no. 5), joining Mike Schmidt in 1976 for the Phillies.
The only other MLB shortstops with at least eight RBI and four hits in a game were Miguel Tejada (2001 A’s) and Hall of Famer Travis Jackson (1923 Giants)
Two other Yankees have recorded at least eight RBI and four hits at Yankee Stadium: A-Rod on April 26, 2005 and Paul O’Neill on August 31, 1995.
Didi and Danny Tartabull (1992) are the lone Yankees to go 4-for-4 or better and drive in at least eight runs in a game

We also have a #FunFact Guest Yankeemetric from friend of the blog, Mark Simon, who notes that the Yankees are the only MLB franchise that has an eight-RBI game from each of the eight non-pitcher positions.

Catcher – Yogi Berra, Elston Howard
First baseman – Lou Gehrig
Second baseman – Tony Lazzeri
Shortstop – Didi Gregorius
Third baseman – Alex Rodriguez
Leftfield – George Selkirk
Centerfield – Joe DiMaggio, Bernie Williams
Rightfield – Selkirk, Tartabull, O’Neill

Didi’s numbers through five team games were video-game-like: 8-for-18 with four doubles, two doubles, a triple and a single (.444/.524/1.111).

He is one of six Yankees with at least 20 total bases in the team’s first five games, a list that also includes Alex Rodriguez (2007), Alfonso Soriano (2003), Mickey Mantle (1956), Lou Gehrig (1932) and Samuel Byrd (1932). And the only other Yankee with seven extra-base hits through five team games was A-Rod in that 2007 MVP-winning campaign.

Three times a charm
The Yankees completed the short two-game sweep of the Rays with another convincing win, 7-2, on Wednesday. They’ve now won 11 straight home series over the Rays, their longest such streak against any opponent at the current Yankee Stadium.

Murderers’ Row II had a spectacular debut, with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez each going deep in the same game for the first time this season. Each of them quickly erased any doubts about their recent “slumps” with one swing of the bat — in true Bronx Bomber fashion.

Judge entered the game with one extra-base hit in the first five games, and then in the fourth inning mashed a 419-foot homer to quiet the critics. By the way, last year Judge had one extra-base hit in the first five games of the season, and then hit his first homer in the sixth game. Sound familiar?

Stanton was coming off a historically awful home-opening game, when he went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. He was the first non-pitcher in franchise history to get at least five at-bats in a game at Yankee Stadium and strike out in every at-bat. He bounced back from that disaster by drilling a laser shot over the left-field fences in his first trip to the plate on Wednesday.

The ball left Stanton’s bat with an exit velocity of 117.9 mph and went an estimated 458 feet. Goodness gracious, I feel sorry for the baseballs. It was Stanton’s fourth home run that was hit that hard (117-plus mph) and that far (458-plus feet) since Statcast began tracking such things in 2015 — one more than the rest of MLB combined has hit over the last four seasons.

Sanchez had been in the deepest funk of the trio before digging into the batter’s box in the third inning, with just one hit in 20 plate appearances and hitless in his last 17 at-bats. He then crushed a towering moonshot to left, sending it 369 feet into the seats with a launch angle of 38 degrees. It was the third-shortest homer hit by Sanchez and tied for the highest launch angle he’s produced on any of his 54 career homers.

The trio of bombs from the middle-of-order guys overshadowed a fantastic effort on the mound by Luis Severino. The righty lived up to his ace status with an efficient and overpowering performance, throwing 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts. Of the 22 outs he recorded, only two were in the outfield — a first-inning popfly in shallow right field (Torreyes Web Gem alert!) and a sixth-inning flyout to left — and the 13 outs he generated via groundballs were a career-high.

A Thought after the Yu Darvish Non-Signing

February 11, 2018 by Matt Imbrogno Leave a Comment

Nothing ever happens in a vacuum. When decisions are made–or not made–there is always some context to consider. We make our choices to do or do not, be or not be based on the circumstances that surround whatever situation we’re in. Then, those choices have consequences, which lead to new contexts, which lead to new choices, which lead to…you get where this goes. Yesterday, a choice the Cubs made got me thinking about a choice the Yankees didn’t and the possible consequences of that non-choice.

The Cubs signed free agent pitcher Yu Darvish, someone to whom the Yankees were linked for much of the offseason. The deal has a $126M base salary, with incentives to bring it up to $150M, over six years. As Mike said in the post, seems about right. Maybe it’s a little less inflated than recent pitcher contracts have been, especially given Darvish’s track record and reputation, but underwhelming contract returns seems to be a theme of the 2017-2018 Hot Stove. Despite that, and the aforementioned connection between the Bombers and Yu, Ken Rosenthal revealed that the team never even made an offer to sign Darvish. Why not? Say it with me, folks: the luxury tax.

By now, with Darvish off the table, Spring Training days away, and no other salary-related trades made since the Chase Headley one, I’m resigned to the fact that the Yankees are, very clearly, going to stay under the tax threshold. And I get it, when thinking from their point of view. It gives them savings shortly down the road that they’ll use to invest back into the team. On top of that, the team, as presently constructed, is good enough to win without adding a big piece. ZiPS and PECOTA have them at 93 and 96 wins respectively, both marks projected to win the division, the latter quite comfortably. And as counter intuitive as it may be, that rosy projection has me worried about the Yankees’ plans to spend going forward.

For a few years now, both Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman have beat a similar drum, one whose tune says “you don’t have to spend $200M to be a winner.” There’s truth to that statement and the Yankees are finally in a position to make it true. Between Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery in the rotation, along with Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Greg Bird in the lineup, as well as Chad Green in the bullpen, the Yankees have plenty of impact players making dirt cheap salaries. That’s to say nothing of both the depth and high-end potential of their minor league players–spearheaded by Gleyber Torres and Justus Sheffield–and their apparent starting third baseman, Miguel Andujar. This team is set up to win in the short term and the long term, just what everyone wants. And the more I think about it, the more likely it seems that the Yankees will not reinvest their luxury tax savings if they win this year.

Eight months from now, it’ll be November. The Yankees will almost certainly have made the playoffs. They’ll probably have one at least one round. They may have even gotten to and/or won the World Series. And those things, no matter how minimal, are going to influence the Yankees. With last year’s performance, the Yankees arrived ahead of schedule. They were able to win without a huge splash in the free agent market, and are poised to do so this year. The trade for Giancarlo Stanton makes them less likely to go after Bryce Harper, who’d really have no room to play in the Yankees’ outfield in 2019 and beyond. If the team wins with Miguel Andujar at third base all year, and he comports himself as well as he can and is able to, the Yankees could reasonably pass on Manny Machado, too. If Machado is set on playing shotstop, the Yankees can always point to Didi Gregorius and Gleyber Torres as reasons not to sign him to a big money deal.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing for the Yankees to sit out the free agent market next year if they show great success this year. Winning is winning, after all, regardless of how much you spend. But the Yankees’ actions this year, especially on the pitching market, and their team construction make me think they’re going to skip reinvesting the potential and probable luxury tax savings from 2018. That’s their prerogative since it’s their team, their money, etc. And if you can win and spend less doing it? Great! But we’ve been told for years that this plan was to get them reset to spend big when the time came. I can’t help but feel we’re in for a bait and switch.

Yankeemetrics: West Coast nightmare (June 12-14)

June 15, 2017 by Katie Sharp Leave a Comment

No pizza but still a win
The Yankees headed out west for the first time this season, but the story remained mostly the same on Monday night: another win and another legend-boosting performance by Mr. Judge.

This victory, however, was different from others in the past couple weeks because of the fact that John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman didn’t get to mention the beloved Papa John’s promotion. In case you’re not familiar with the popular deal: the day after the Yankees score six or more runs, customers get 50 percent off the regular menu price of all pizzas at Papa John’s online.

The Yankees scored ‘only’ five runs on Monday night, but that was still enough for the win because of another anomaly: Masahiro Tanaka did not get pummeled! Though he did cough up a solo homer to the second batter of the game, he settled down after that, retiring 13 straight at one point while pitching into the seventh inning.

One of the biggest keys for Tanaka was getting ahead in the count, throwing a first-pitch strike to a season-high 77.8 percent of the batters he faced. Because he was consistently in control of at-bats, he was then able to efficiently finish off batters when getting to two strikes, as the Angels went 0-for-11 in two-strike counts with eight strikeouts.

Okay, so back to the part of this game that was normal – Aaron Judge destroying baseballs. With the game tied in the eighth inning and a man on second, Judge drilled a 2-0 cutter from Bud Norris over the fences for a 5-3 lead. Sorry Buddy, this is not the best location for a pitch when facing a 6’7, 280-pound baseball cyborg:

aaron-judge

I wouldn’t be surprised if Judge was literally smiling as he extended his arms and pummeled this pitch into the right-centerfield seats. It was right in his power-happy zone, as he was slugging 1.182 in that part of the strikezone after Monday’s game.

judge

It was his first career go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later … and hopefully the first of many more to come.

Judge wouldn’t have been the hero, though, without another standout performance from Didi Gregorius. He went 4-for-4 and kept the Yankees in the game with game-tying and go-ahead RBI singles in the third and fifth innings. Didi was the second Yankee shortstop ever with a four-hit, multi-RBI game against the Angels. The other guy to do it was … of course, Derek Jeter on Sept. 5, 1999 at Angel Stadium.

Clipp’d
The Yankees six-game win streak was snapped on Tuesday in one of the more frustrating losses of this season, as they lost in the 11th inning after failing to cash in on key scoring chances throughout the night. It was also a rare type of loss for a couple reasons:

Before Tuesday, the Yankees were one of just two teams that hadn’t yet suffered a walk-off loss – the Marlins are now on the clock as the only team left on that list.
The Yankees were 33-0 when leading at the start of the eighth inning, one of four major-league teams without a loss in that scenario entering Tuesday’s slate. The others: Rockies (33-0), Red Sox (26-0) and White Sox (23-0).

Tyler Clippard was the game’s biggest goat – according to Twitter, at least – as he surrendered that game-tying homer and was tagged for his fourth blown save of the season in his 29th appearance. Through Tuesday, the only pitchers in the majors with more blown saves were Tony Watson and Francisco Rodriguez (both with 5).

Fangraphs tracks a stat called Meltdowns, which answers the simple question of whether a reliever hurt his team’s chance of winning, based on changes in win probability during the pitcher’s outing. (To be more specific, he gets a Meltdown if the game’s win probability declines by at least six percent from when he enters and then exits the game.) Clippard has eight Meltdowns this season, tied for the most among American League pitchers and fourth-most in MLB.

Clippard has a shiny 2.00 ERA and .158 batting average allowed, but he’s been horrible in critical at-bats this season. He’s allowed a .304/.375/.682 line in high-leverage plate appearances – that equals a .436 wOBA, which ranked seventh-highest among pitchers that have faced at least 25 batters in those situations. For reference, Aaron Judge had a .476 wOBA through Tuesday.

As if the game wasn’t depressing enough from a standard win-loss perspective, there’s also the fact that CC Sabathia suffered a hamstring injury in the fourth inning. He had won his last five starts, with a 0.99 ERA dating back to May 16 at Kansas City. During that month-long span (May 16 to June 13), a total of 161 pitchers threw at least 15 innings; Robbie Ray (0.24) and Sabathia (0.99) were the only ones to post a sub-1.00 ERA.

Welcome back, Tiny Mike
This annual road trip to Southern California has been a devastating one for this franchise, even in the best of times. After dropping the rubber game on Wednesday, the Yankees continued their run of futility in Los Angeles (or Anaheim, whatever). The Yankees fell to 45-58 at Angel Stadium in the Wild Card Era, their worst record at any AL ballpark in that span.

It looked like they might reverse that trend after taking a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, capped by Gary Sanchez’s booming 441-foot three-run homer. It was the Yankees 11th home run of at least 440 feet this season, the most in the majors.

And here’s a stat that pretty much sums up the 2017 Yankees: Sanchez’s longball was also the 35th hit by a Yankee in his age-25 season or younger; in the five-year period from 2010-2014, there were 21 homers hit by Yankees in their age-25 season or younger … COMBINED.

Unfortunately that early offensive explosion was quickly rendered meaningless as #BadMike returned with vengeance. He soon turned that 4-0 advantage into a 5-4 deficit by the end of the third inning. Pineda ended up pitching six innings and gave up five runs on 10 hits, further widening his Jeykyll-and-Hyde home/road splits this season:

He is now 1-5 with a 6.25 ERA in six road starts, compared to 6-1 with a 1.96 ERA in seven home starts. That difference of 4.3 runs is the ninth-largest among the 100-plus pitchers that have made at least five starts at home and five starts on the road.

A Couple of Middle Infielders in Their Prime [2017 Season Preview]

March 8, 2017 by Domenic Lanza Leave a Comment

There seems to be a strong consensus that 2016 was a breakout season for Didi Gregorius, and something between a disappointment and a shrug of the shoulders for Starlin Castro. This is unsurprising, considering that the former set career highs (nearly) across the board, whereas the latter failed to have the change of scenery bounceback that many expected – but is it fair? Consider their offensive production last year:

Their numbers were virtually indistinguishable. Gregorius struck out significantly less, to be sure, but it’d be difficult to find two more comparable players otherwise (much less a duo that mans the same middle infield). It feels like cognitive dissonance to an extent.

The comparison shouldn’t end there, of course, as Gregorius was the superior base-runner, adding between four and eight extra runs depending on your metric of choice, and he played the more difficult position (both were subpar defenders by most measures, though the eye and reputation tests tell another story entirely for Gregorius). As a result of these factors, Gregorius had a comfortable lead in both fWAR (2.7 to 1.1) and bWAR (2.2 to 1.2). He was undoubtedly the better player, but the similarities remain striking.

With Gleyber Torres setting the world ablaze, Tyler Wade in Triple-A, and Jorge Mateo still earning some prospect love, the Yankees are certain to be watching the performances of Castro and Gregorius closely. And if they see an opportunity to improve the team with a cheaper, internal option, they might just take it.

So what should be expected of the Yankees current double play combination in 2017?

Starlin Castro

The only real constant in Castro’s career to-date has been his inconsistency. Plotting his year-to-year wRC+ results in a fairly wicked looking roller coaster:

castro-wrc

Put that all together and you have a roughly league-average hitter, with a 162 game average of .280/.318/.408 (96 wRC+) and 13 HR. Both ZiPS (.272/.305/.419 with 18 HR) and PECOTA (.268/.308/.415 with 16 HR) project more of the same in 2017, which makes sense at this point in his career. Castro is still quite young, as he won’t be 27 until March 24, but he has 4374 Major League plate appearances under his belt, and he has regressed more so than anything else of late.

Just last week, however, Mike dug into a potential breakout season for Castro, discussing the reasons for optimism, which essentially boil down to past success, harder (and better) contact, greater comfort at the keystone, and his age. In the end, Mike thinks that a .300/.340/.475 line is within the realm of possibility; it’s tough to disagree, given that he hit .307/.341/.432 in 2011 and .292/.339/.438 in 2014, and just showcased the best power of his career last year. I wouldn’t expect that level of production – but it wouldn’t shock me, either.

This does feel like a big year for Castro, at least insofar as his pinstriped career is concerned. He’s no longer cheap, as he’ll earn an average of just under $11 MM over the next three years, but he’s far from untradeable, given his age and ability to play an up-the-middle position. Another middling season might result in him playing elsewhere in 2018, as it’s no secret that he is (or was) available in trade talks this off-season.

Didi Gregorius

Projecting Gregorius’ 2017 is an incredibly difficult task, as the shape of his production has changed dramatically over his four full-ish seasons. Keeping in mind that his 2012 season was a 21 PA cup of coffee, take a look at the following:

didi-plate-discipline

In 2013 – his first full-ish season – Gregorius walked in 9.2% of his plate appearances, which was comfortably above the league-average walk rate of 7.9%. He swung a bit more often than the average player by about 4 percentage points, but his strikeout rate was better than average and his 91 wRC+ as a 23-year-old shortstop was more than acceptable.

Fast forward to the end of 2016, and Gregorius looked like a completely different player. His 3.2% walk rate was 5 percentage points below average, his 13.7% strikeout rate was 7.4 percentage points above average, and he swung at 55.4% of pitches thrown his way (the highest among all qualified shortstops, and tied for 6th in the Majors). His gradually developed aggression resulted in the best season of his career.

Much of the discussion about Gregorius’ 2017 revolved around his 20 home runs, which nearly matched his total of 22 in 1302 PA from 2012 through 2015. The most glaring improvement last season, however, came against LHP. Heading into 2016, the Dutch shortstop was a career .214/.282/.272 hitter (52 wRC+) against southpaws, and it seemed as though he may have to be platooned. There were signs of life in 2015, as a 74 wRC+ might just be playable with his defense, but it was still far less than ideal.

And then he hit .324/.361/.473 (126 wRC+) against LHP last year, striking out in just 7.5% of those plate appearances. He also walked in just 2.5% of that 161 PA sample size, posting an uncharacteristic .331 BABIP along the way. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a player to solve same-handed pitchers as he enters his prime, but we need more evidence to prove that he did just that.

Neither ZiPS (.262/.308/.404, 15 HR) nor PECOTA (.259/.309/.400, 14 HR) sees Gregorius repeating his 2016, though both do see him sustaining a bit of his power surge. At the same time, though, projections do not always take into account tangibles changes in approach over a short-term, which may well be the case with the Yankees shortstop.

What about their defense?

In an ideal world, the Yankees middle infield defense would be an embarrassment of riches. Castro was somewhere between a below-average and fringe-average defensive shortstop, and one would expect his tools to play-up as he slides down the defensive spectrum. And Gregorius was a legitimate prospect largely due to his potential Gold Glove defense, and his reputation is still that of a plus defender. If only it were that simple.

By Defensive Runs Saved and UZR/150, 2016 was Castro’s worst defensive season. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, as he had all of 258 innings at second prior to the 2016 calendar year, but there was some sense that his defense backslid as the year wore on. His acclimation to the Bronx and the position may well lead to a sizable step forward in defensive value this year, and that might just be the most important aspect in reviving his overall stock.

And, as I inferred earlier, the advanced metrics cast Gregorius as a middling, if inconsistent defender. He was worth 5 DRS and 7.9 UZR/150 in 2015, but was below-average in both in his other three full-ish seasons. DRS pegged Gregorius as a -9 defender last season, meaning he nearly cost the team a win relative to the position. The truth may well be that he’s merely average, with his smooth actions and strong arm masking his inadequacies to the naked eye. Given the Yankees dedication to defense, you can be sure that they’re watching him closely.

With the exception of the rookies and comparably inexperienced players, I’m not sure that there are two more difficult Yankees to project – and Castro and Gregorius feel somewhat less certain than a few of those guys, as well. If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that Castro improves a bit overall (owing largely to improvements on defense), Gregorius produces a similar total package (perhaps with a bit less power and a bit more glove) … and we’re regularly reminded that Torres is tearing it up in the minors.

Didi Gregorius, Jorge Mateo, and the future at shortstop

February 26, 2016 by Mike Leave a Comment

All things considered, the 2015 season was pretty successful for Didi Gregorius. He had the unenviable task of replacing a legend, and after some early season jitters, he settled in nicely and was rock solid on both sides of the ball. Gregorius hit .265/.318/.370 (89 wRC+) at a time when the league average shortstop hit .256/.307/.375 (85 wRC+). Couple that with his defense and you’ve got an above-average young player.

The Yankees had reportedly been after Gregorius for a long time — the first mention of him in our archives was back during the 2013 Winter Meetings — so they clearly liked him very much, but until he got out onto the field, it was impossible to know what he would bring to the table. The Yankees couldn’t put all their eggs in the Gregorius basket. They had to be prepared to fill the shortstop position in other ways in case he didn’t work out long-term.

“We went for a long time with one shortstop at the Major League level. Now we have good depth, and the good thing about shortstops is that they’re athletes, so they can play all over the field if the position doesn’t open up for them at the next level,” said farm system head Gary Denbo to George King (subs. req’d) recently. Seven of my top 30 prospects were shortstops and only two ranked lower than 18th. The Yankees are deep at the position.

The best of those shortstop prospects in 20-year-old Jorge Mateo, who is attending his first big league camp this year. He’s not there because he has a chance to make the team. There’s close to zero chance that happens. He’s there because he is arguably the Yankees’ top prospect and because the brain trust wants to get a look at him up close. They’re dangling a carrot. If Mateo keeps it up and puts in the work soon he’ll be rubbing elbows will big leaguers all the time.

Mateo led the minors with 82 steals a year ago and chances are he will begin the 2016 season at High-A Tampa, where he played 21 games a year ago. A quick-ish promotion to Double-A seems likely, and if everything goes right, it’s not impossible for Mateo to make his MLB debut at some point this year, likely as the designated September pinch-runner. “My goal is to play in the big leagues this year,” he said to King.

With a player like Didi and a prospect like Mateo, it’s not difficult to find yourself looking ahead and trying to figure out how all the pieces will fit. Gregorius showed last season he’s a capable big league shortstop and the Yankees should be very excited about having him at the position. They should also be excited about Mateo — and Wilkerman Garcia, Tyler Wade, Hoy Jun Park, Kyle Holder, and a bunch others — because he has the potential to be a dynamic player.

“As far as the publications and all that stuff, it’s great, but I’m really just — my focus is to work hard. I’m here to work hard. I don’t pay attention to that stuff,” said Mateo to Brendan Kuty. “I’ve been working really hard to be consistent and to make the routine plays come out as easily as possible … I feel very happy to be here. I thank God for the opportunity to be here. I’m having a really great time with my teammates.”

There is only room at the inn for one shortstop, and right now this is a classic “we’ll deal with it when the time comes” situation. Mateo still needs to spend time in the minors and realistically, it’s going to be at least 18 months until he’s ready to hold down a big league job. It might even be more like 24 months. A lot can happen in that time, including trades. Don’t forget the Yankees were willing to deal Mateo for Craig Kimbrel at the trade deadline last year.

Point is, the future at shortstop looks very bright right now. The Yankees have a ton of promising young shortstops coming up through the system — again, it’s not just Mateo, it’s also Wilkerman and Wade and everyone else — plus Gregorius at the MLB level. We can even lump Starlin Castro into this mix. The Yankees have all of these guys and one day they may be in position to pick the best one, then use the others to fill needs elsewhere, either through trades or by having them change positions.