Domingo German and the Replacement Yankees Just Keep Winning
It was supposed to be the season of Aaron Judge, Miguel Andujar and Luis Severino. Instead it’s been the season of DJ LeMahieu, Gio Urshela and Domingo German. Wait; who? Exactly.
When the season began a couple of months ago, and the Yankees started dropping like flies with an injury list that looked like an All-Star Game roster, no one could have predicted they’d be sitting atop the American League East with the best record in baseball since April 16. Their two biggest bats, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have played a combined 23 games this year and their pitching ace Severino has been on the shelf since before the season began. And yet …
Yankees Doing Just Fine
They went into an important weekend series against the (at the start of the weekend) AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. After taking two of three from the Rays at the dumpster fire that is the Trop (how do the lights go out in a ballpark for 43 minutes on a beautiful sunny day?) they took another two out of three from Tampa at the Stadium.
They even beat the Rays at their own game when they employed the opener strategy on Sunday because of the injury to lefty James Paxton. The Yankees had no business winning that game against veteran pitcher Charlie Morton. Nonetheless, they didn’t just win the game, they crushed Tampa by a score of 13-5.
Domingo German Leads the Way
So, how are they doing it? With the three fundamentals of baseball: good pitching, timely hitting and solid defense. Domingo German has emerged as the pitcher everyone thought he could be and then some. He is in the top 10 in all of MLB in ERA (2.50), WHIP (0.95) and wins (8) plus opposing batters are hitting a measly .179 against him.
Position players like Urshela, LeMahieu, Thairo Estrada and Cameron Maybin are putting the ball in play and not swinging out of their shoes. LeMahieu has been extremely clutch, swinging to a .423 AVG with runners in scoring position since the team’s April 16 winning streak. In addition, these same guys play Gold Glove-caliber defense. No worries about Urshela double-clutching the ball to miss a routine throw over to first base.
Credit needs to be given to GM Brian Cashman and the Yankees scouts for finding all that undervalued talent. This has been a quiet trend since the 2014 trade for Didi Gregorious and continues with the likes of Luke “I’m no fluke” Voit, Chad Green and Urshela. With Urshela, even Cashman admits there’s been a bit of luck there. The third baseman was acquired more for his glove and his potential to play multiple infield positions. No one expected him to begin the season with a .902 OPS in 101 plate appearances.
But this is the season of the unexpected for the Yankees. Little has gone as planned. Except for the winning. That just keeps on happening.
