Tyler Wade Deserves The 2B Job After Strong Spring Training

After the 2017 season, the New York Yankees jettisoned former starting second baseman Starlin Castro from the roster in a trade, to make way for the reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton. This cleared a spot on the roster for a competition at second base.

The prospects that were originally slated to compete for this job were Tyler Wade, Gleyber Torres (The number one prospect in the organization) and Brandon Drury who was brought in from Arizona as a free agent. All of these players were good in their on rights and they all deserved the chance to battle it out.

When Chase Headley was dumped for salary to San Diego that also opened up the third base job, which should have been filled by Todd Frazier in my opinion but he signed with the Mets instead. Miguel Andujar was brought into camp to compete with Drury and Torres can play multiple positions. However the competition only lasted a couple of weeks, as Andujar and his strong plate performances couldn’t mask his poor fielding mistakes, and he was sent to minor league camp, giving the third base job to Drury by default.

With the Yankees recently signing Neil Walker, I would like to make a case for Tyler Wade to start the season as the second baseman and not platoon with Walker all season. There are a few reasons this can happen, and actually it’s quite simple. As it was announced by Aaron Boone that he would make the 25 man roster, it got me thinking about how he has improved over the past couple of seasons.

Currently in Spring Training, Wade is putting up very impressive numbers hitting .316 through 36 AB with 12 hits and scoring 6 runs. His slash line is pretty respectable with .316/.438/.885. He is also making a lot of plays defensively that gives me the impression why at 23, he is better than the 32 year old Walker. Yes Walker has been around the majors with the Mets, Pirates, Brewers, and Blue Jays, but he has only played two full seasons in his major league career. Wade has slowly made his way through the Yankees farm system and has produced at every level and burst onto the scene when he got called ip last season by the Bronx Bombers. Although he only had a .155 average in his 30 games, I believe that his defense speaks for itself, and his range is something the Yankees need to cover ground. His hitting will eventually come into form and he should settle in nicely.

Yankees fans, as a word of caution BE PATIENT WITH YOUNG TALENT PLEASE.