Yankees Crowded OF Good Problem to Have
2 min readAug 23, 2020
By Lucas Bolduc
Photo credit WSLS News 10
The New York Yankees have a problem. Although it’s not your typical problem, and quite honestly a problem most teams would love to have, it still is a problem. The Yankees have six starting quality outfielders. And for those of you who don’t know, there are only three outfield positions to be filled everyday. And while yes Giancarlo does DH, that still leaves two of the six players without a spot in the lineup. So let’s talk about it.
There are two obvious players, who when healthy, will be everyday players. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. No question. But as for the rest, it’s quite the toss up. Clint Frazier brings youth, and a power bat to the Yankees already impressive slugging lineup. While having his mistakes in the outfield, he is still a safe option and makes up for it at the plate. As for Mike Tauchman, he is easily the best defensive outfielder on the Yankees next to Aaron Hicks. Tauchman also hits lefties extremely well, and with a ton of right handed hitters, the Yanks could do some damage to a lefty pitcher with Tauchman in the lineup. As for Aaron Hicks, he’s proven himself a complete player. He is a defensive stud, and brings power and clutch hitting to the plate. But injuries have slowed his progress and earned him some bench time in his past. Brett Gardner brings uniqueness to the team. A veteran leader, the only Yankee left from the 2009 World Series team. He still has decent speed for his age, and has improved his power as his career keeps going, but still has trouble getting base hits and has a weak arm for making plays in left.
Now for my opinion on who should get the two outfield spots next to judge (assuming Stanton is the DH) I think those two spots should go to Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier. Like I said before, Clint Frazier’s bat is insane, and defensively he will get better over time. He’s too good of a bat to be sitting in the minors. As for Aaron Hicks, is he can stay healthy and crush the baseball and continue making amazing plays in the outfield, he deserves the spot. As for Gardner, I feel he can still start on quite a few other MLB teams. The Yankees should look into trading him. For Mike Tauchman, I feel like he should remain on the team as an injury backup, and continue working on his game in the minors.
Lucas Bolduc is the co-host of the Roll Call Podcast, Thursday at 4pm.
