Baseball Spring Training is Underway
Spring Training is officially underway. With three games under their belt, it’s time for my WAY TOO EARLY assessment of how the team looks thus far.
If not for a disastrous 5-run 3 rd inning against the Red Sox in game 1, the Yankees might be sitting here with a 3–0 record. It’s been good to see Yankee bats on fire early. Not only is our Power Game strong, but I have observed effective base running, particularly from Estevan Florial, who has 2 steals thus far. With DiDi Gregorius nursing an injury this season, the Yankees will need to make up his loss production. An option exists through effective base stealing to help manufacture runs in close games.
It has been a joy to watch the Bombers — hit bombs, both during BP and in games. It feels as if every batter has the potential to knock one out of the park, and that’s admittedly from a lineup that bares little resemblance to what Opening Day’s will look like. The Yankees have hit 6 HRs through the first 3
games and have scored a total of 16 runs. Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada are off to strong starts and leading the bombers in most hitting categories thus far.
Luke Voit and Matt Lipka have looked strong as well, with a combined 7 RBIs between them. As for pitching, the Yanks have looked OK. Outside of that 3 rd inning against the Red Sox, which almost led me into a profanity fueled rant in my living room, the pitching has been stable. I was also a little perturbed with the back to back HRs Stephan gave up in the 5 th inning of the Rays game, three total in that inning that could have easily been 4. It looked as if he located the pitch on the same part of the plate each time. Again, it’s early, but pitch placement is something he will need to work on.
For perspective, I have to remember that the RAYS were 90 game winners themselves last year. In any other league in any other year, they could have won their division. They have a young nucleus that enjoys playing together lead by Willy Adames. That’s going to continue to translate into great play from them. To see the Yanks able to beat and compete with good teams early is encouraging. It was also good to see the Yankees pitching staff rebound a bit in the Blue Jays game.
Again, way too early to project what this means for the season, but not too early to appreciate the level of talent we have on this team. There are still some battles to be determined at Shortstop, 1st Base and in the Outfield. I think things will begin to clarify as we get a little deeper into Spring Training.
What are your thoughts on Spring Training thus far?
