2020 MLB Playoffs: The Yankees & Their Horrid Hitting

Top of the Lineup Struggles Throughout the Whole Playoffs

The first batter we have, DJ LeMahieu, won the A.L batting title. You would think LeMahieu would provide the clutch hitting that he offered for the Yankees all season. While LeMahieu got the game-winning hit that won Game-2 against the Indians, he didn’t do much after that. LeMahieu managed to struggle against the Rays, and that’s no good for a player that the Yankees desperately need to re-sign next season.

Then we have Aaron Judge, who managed to stay out for most of the year. When going into the playoffs, though, you saw the struggles from him. Judge’s biggest issue was his patience, as he always tried to swing at bad pitches, and well, just sort of looked lost.

For the middle part of that top lineup, Aaron Hicks looked great, managing seven hits. Luke Voit, the home run leader during the regular season, struggled throughout, striking out only seven times, and had only one home run in the postseason. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the first five batters was Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton usually struggles in the regular season, but he was fantastic when he came up to bat in the MLB playoffs. Stanton had 13 RBIs in the postseasons, including six home runs, which no Yankee had done in the playoffs. However, the 6-9 batters of the lineup always struggled.

Where Was the Bottom Part of the Lineup?

Aside from Giancarlo Stanton, Gio Urshela could be MVP for the Yankees’ playoff performances. Gio Urshela showed his beautiful defensive side as he helped saved the Yankees from allowing the Indians to win. Gleyber Torres well didn’t perform like last year, as he didn’t look great at the plate; Torres also looked pretty lost at the plate, having ten strikeouts. Brett Gardner also suffered in the playoffs, somewhat similar to Torres, but the worst part of the lineup was the catcher’ss position.

Gary Sanchez was the worst Yankees’ batter in this year’s playoffs. If you watch Gary Sanchez at-bat this year, you’d see why some fans want him to leave. Despite only four strikeouts, he continued to struggle as he only garnered one hit in the entire postseason. It got so horrible with Sanchez that Aaron Boone decided not to use him in 4 games of the ALDS.

While Kyle Higashioka also didn’t have an excellent performance, he proved to be more effective when put in the lineup. A topic that people may think about during the offseason is whether or not the Yankees want to shop Sanchez, but we’ll get to that in the last part of this series.

Conclusion

The Yankees’ batting this postseason was the worst of all the playoff runs in recent years. When no Yankee possesses playoff magic in their bat, it’s very frustrating and makes the Yankees a laughingstock. When they start learning to hit with runners on base again, we can start making people fear the Yankees. But for now, they continue to sulk in their batting failure.

Don’t forget to check out the final part of the series, as I cover about Aaron Boone and the Yanks’ front office.

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