Latest comments on Yankees' hitting approach shows Guardians may be closing gap on Bronx Bombers

Whether you love or hate the Yankees (most people in Northeast Ohio likely fall into the latter), they’re the top dog in MLB who soak up a ton of the sport’s oxygen. While that status can make their success even more frustrating given how attention is given to them, it makes their failures even sweeter since it leads to plenty of opportunities to take victory laps. 

And this year was clearly an abject failure for the Yankees. They may have finished the regular season with 93 wins, they were swept in the American League Division Series by the Tampa Bay Rays while star Aaron Judge sat on the sideline with a right calf injury. 

In fact, that sweep at the hands of the Rays was so bad that owner Hal Steinbrenner said in his post-mortem press conference that the Yankees are going to take a look at their entire coaching staff, namely this hitting coach led by James Rowson. 

Steinbrenner also said that he was going to take a look into the team’s hitting philosophies, which is a bit fractured thanks to some analytical disconnect. While they have some hitters who are willing to dive into the data, they also have some hitters who take a more old school approach, namely Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and others. 

The Yankees seem to be  divided in their approach to hitting 

Now no one is going to say that Judge is doing something wrong since he’s a three-time MVP with 386 home runs, Steinbrenner’s comment showed there’s a clear divide among the Yankees. 

While no organization is ever going to have everyone in lockstep, it’s an interesting comparison when thinking about the Guardians, who have nowhere near the amount of resources as the Yankees but have largely been able to keep up with them thanks to to a unified approach that’s allowed them for be able to get the most out of every player on their roster. 

To be clear, the Guardians are never going to be able to win a pure arms race against the Yankees. They have the most money in baseball (so much so it’s the sticking point of the new labor negotiations), and always have the best hitter on the planet in Judge. 

But the one key advantage they have is an organization with a mantra that’s built around empowering smart people and putting them in positions to succeed. That’s part of the reason why they were able to succeed this year despite José Ramírez being a shell of himself.

A lot can obviously happen between now and next year’s Opening Day (whenever that is), but Steinbrenner’s comments showed that the gap between the Guardians and Yankees is smaller than anyone thought (regardless of whatever happens in the next CBA).

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