5 Reasons the New York Yankees will be in the Playoffs in 2017
After missing the playoffs in 3 out of the last 4 years, the New York Yankees are itching to get back into October baseball and their fans are too. Could this be the year that the Yankees return to the postseason? Here are 5 reasons why you can expect to the Yankees to be back into playoff contention come the end of the 2017 season.
1.) Coming of Young Talent
This Yankees Opening Day lineup is going to be a little different than in years past. It will consist of a lot of players who have not really had much exposure in the MLB. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t going to look anything like the 2013 lineup which consisted of Francisco Cervelli, Eduardo Nunez, Vernon Wells, Jayson Nix, and I could keep going but I’ll spare you your time. What’s different about this year is that these “no name” players are actually young studs just breaking their way into the MLB. Headlined by Gary Sanchez, the others behind him are Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Tyler Austin, Luis Cessa, and Chad Green with the latter two being possible starting pitchers. When Greg Bird was called up at the end of the 2015 season, he started to make quite a name for himself hitting .261 with 11 homeruns in only 46 games.
While 11 HRs looks meek next to Sanchez’s 20 he hit in about 50 games, Bird would’ve been on pace for a roughly 40 homeruns season as a rookie. That’s insane. Bird will have some competition for the first base spot however. Another youngster, Tyler Austin, is looking to play his way into the starting lineup as well. Austin made headlines with other rookie Aaron Judge as they both hit back to back homeruns in their first professional plate appearances, becoming the first duo to do so in MLB history. Judge is another critical piece of the Yankees’ plans for next year. Don’t expect to see Judge hitting for a crazy average, but a .250 average with 30+ homeruns would be more than welcomed in the Bronx from the second year player, and that will help provide the power the Yankees so desperately need. This infusion of young talent into the Yankees’ lineup with help breathe a breath of fresh air into an other wise aging roster.
2.) Dark Horse Rotation
The Yankees have the pieces to have a solid rotation. This has been the story since they signed Tanaka roughly 3 years ago. The truth of the matter though is that this rotation has been dismal at points. Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, and the lack of a solid 4th and 5th starter have all been to blame. Pineda held a less than desirable 6–12 record with a 4.82 era to go with it. The good thing that Pineda has going for him is that he wasn’t horrible the entire season-there were some months that showed the vast potential that Big Mike possesses. In the month of June he compiled a 2.75 era and had his best game of the year against the American League West Champions the Texas Rangers when he held them to just 2 hits with 12 strikeouts in 7 innings of stellar work. Pineda also ended the season with an era of 3.21 in the final month of the year. It’s stretches like these that keep Joe Girardi and Larry Rothschild optimistic that Michael can work through his issues and put together a solid season. Pineda finished the year with 207 strikeouts. This put him at eleventh most in the MLB. This proves that Mike has the stuff to be a dominant guy, he just hase to know when to correctly use it. Behind him is Sabathia who did a nice job of reinventing himself after multiple operations on his elbow and knee. If he can have a year similar to the one he had last year in which he put up a decent era of 3.91, he would be a productive contributor to help bolster the back end of the Yankees rotation. Filling out the last two spots in the rotation becomes a little tricky. There is not one guy who is expected to be favored for the position. Girardi will have to choose from a batch of young arms that contain Bryan Mitchell, Luis Severino, Luis Cessa, Chad Green, and why not let’s throw in the Yanks’ top pitching prospect James Kaprielian. This will definitely be a fun battle to watch come Spring Training, but if it were me, I would put Mitchell at the 4 spot and have a revolving door at 5 until Kaprielian is ready to come up to the pros. Mitchell was a guy in Spring Training last year that looked like he was ready to break out. If it wasn’t for his injury during one of his last starts in the spring, this break out could’ve been a reality.
Mitchell commanded a 0.57 era and 0.64 WHIP in 6 starts and had Yankees fans hopeful he would be a big contributor in 2016. Well, I believe 2017 is the year for Bryan Mitchell. His curveball was phenomenal and is a plus strikeout pitch that scouts were very impressed with during his spring starts. If he can pitch the way he did last spring and his brief return to game at the end of the year last year, I think he is primed to turn some heads in 2017. If, and this is a big if, all of these things click for the Yankees in 2017, they will have one of the best rotations in the game lead by the most underrated pitcher in the game, Masahiro Tanaka.
3.) Their Strong Bullpen
We’ve all seen what a dominant bullpen can do. In the playoffs, it looked like Cody Allen and Andrew Miller were going to carry the Indians to their first title in decades. Before this crazy bullpen contribution in 2016, the Royals “coined” the super bullpen with a three-headed beast made of Greg Holland, Wade Davis, and Kelvin Herrera which helped propel them to their own World Series trophy only 2 years ago. With the return of Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees may have another super bullpen in the making. It will be hard to beat the one last year that consisted of the three best relievers in the game, Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman, and Dellin Betances, but nonetheless the Yankees have the pieces to put together one that should at least put them into the top 3 in the game. Behind Betances and Chapman, the Yankees have Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren, Ben Heller who throws a 98 mph sinker, Tommy Layne the lefty specialist, and possibly most intriguing of them all Luis Severino. What makes Severino an interesting option is that he was utterly dominant coming out of the bullpen last year.
As a starter he had an era just north of 8.00, but out of the bullpen it was just a mere 0.39. Huge difference between the two. While we are only looking at a sample size of 30 innings out of the bullpen, Severino’s pitching repertoire suggests that this may not be a fluke. His fastball sits in the mid to upper 90s, and his slider and developing change up all made hitters look foolish in his time in the bigs. If Severino does end up in the bullpen as opposed to the starting rotation, he could help lead the Yankees bullpen to a level of greatness that would rival the all-time best one they had last year.
4.) Gary Sanchez
After being called up late in the year last season, Gary Sanchez made quite a name for himself right away. He set record after record with his last one tying a record held for decades: the fastest player to ever hit 20 homeruns to start their career. Sanchez ultimately ended the year hitting .299 with a total of 20 HRs, 1.032 OPS, and 42 RBIs in just 53 games.
These numbers gave a very much needed spark to a Yankees team that looked stagnant and vaulted them into the Wild Card hunt. While they ended falling just shy of the mark for a playoff spot, I think that a full year of Gary Sanchez behind the plate will make this team dangerous in more ways than one. Defensively, Gary was spectacular behind the plate. He threw out 41% of the runners who attempted to steal a bag on him. This percentage was higher than that of Buster Posey (37%) and just shy of Salvador Perez’s crazy 48%. While it was just a small sample size, I think it is very indicative of what is to come from Gary. It often takes catchers years to perfect their foot work and mechanics in the MLB to get to where they throw out the fastest players in the world on a consistent basis. I think it would’ve been reasonable to believe that in his first 50 games as a pro he would be have some growing pains to get over with this aspect of the game, but this was not the case. A full year of Sanchez behind the plate will only make the Yankees a sharper and crisper team all around. The ability to throw out players helps the pitching staff tremendously because it takes runners out of a chance to score. With a staff that was known last year for giving up big hits in untimely situations, this will undoubtedly provide a much-needed helping hand. Offensively, the numbers speak for themselves. Again, we are dealing with a small sample size here, but once again the numbers are very promising for the 24 year old. Many of the top projections like Steamer, RotoChamp, and Composite are pretty much at a consensus with how they see Sanchez performing next year. They project that he will hit about .270 with about 25 homeruns. While I personally think that these numbers may be a little low for Sanchez’s well-above average skill set, this stat line is nothing to be upset about out of a kid who will be entering his first full season in the bigs. Overall, I think Gary’s stellar play from 2016 will transfer into 2017 which allow him to provide the Yankees’ lineup with a much-needed power bat. A full season out of the Sanchez will greatly improve the team from the starting rotation to the batting order.
5.) Dynamic Duo Up the Middle
Two unsung heroes of the 2016 season were the pair up the middle for New York. Didi Gregorius and Starlin Castro both put career numbers in the Bronx. They both saw a surge in power where Gregorius hit 20 HRs and Castro had 21. Castro was never really known for his power ability, but rather his ability to hit for average. Back in Chicago, Castro would turn in seasons where he hit right at .300 or even higher. Castro’s .270 batting average from last year is nothing to scoff at, but he definitely has the potential for improvement in that department. Meanwhile, Didi started to come into the player the Yankees thought he would be when they named him the heir to Derek Jeter at short stop. His first season in the Bronx was decent, hitting .265 with only 9 HRs, but last year he added a power stroke to his game hitting 20 homers while also increasing his batting average to .276 on the year. Didi started the season slow and ended the season in the same fashion. In April, he hit a mere .224 with 2 HRs, and in September he hit an equally poor .215 with only 3 homers. If Didi can get off to a hot start this coming season, nothing will be able to slow him down and his batting numbers will only improve. The short right field porch at Yankee Stadium serves him well and I look forward to seeing him take advantage of it once again come April. It has been several years since the Yankees have had stability at the shortstop and second base positions- they’ve been shuffling between fill-ins since the departure of Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter. Castro and Gregorius should add that stability as they both look to improve their games in 2017. This will be a crucial aspect to the Yankees’ playoff hopes for the coming season. Should these two come out strong and put up solid seasons as they did last year, I think Yankees fans can look forward to October baseball returning to the Bronx.
