Yankees struggles with runners in scoring position

Time for some fun graphs, folks.

What might this graph tell us? Quite a lot (none of which, remember, tells the whole story). From glancing, you might come to some or all of these conclusions:

1. The Yankees suck with runners in scoring position as a function of their low batting average.
2. The Yankees don’t only suck with runners in scoring position, but they suck on the same level as some of the most consistently terrible offensive teams in the game; including, but not limited to the Padres, Mariners, Nationals, A’s, and Padres.
3. The Yankees clearly aren’t a bad offensive team, as their batting average with the bases empty rivals the team batting averages of the offensive juggernauts that are the Red Sox, the Rangers, and the White Sox.
4. Unless the Yankees start hitting with runners in scoring position, they will obviously flounder to the pits of the baseball standings, where live the Padres, Athletics, and Mariners, for example.

I say not so fast. To anyone with eyes, it’s readily apparent that the Yankees aren’t offensively challenged until runners reach second or third base. They rank seventh in offensive team WAR (per FanGraphs, like the rest of this data), third in wRC+ (which is to say that they’re 15% above league average on offense as a team unit), and first in home runs.

Still, I see that the graph above can speak for itself in a sense. The high-payroll, money-sucking stars in pinstripes aren’t paid to disappear when RBI situations are at hand – the point of the game is to drive runs and what better time to do that then when runners are in scoring position… – but I blame, at least partly, luck. Which wasn’t so easy to see until I dug for it.

With the bases empty, the Yankees hit line drives 22.8% of the time and have a .311 batting average on balls in play. Both numbers are slightly above the league averages of roughly 20% and .300. With men on base, the Yankees drop to 19.8% line drives and more tellingly, a .260 batting average on balls in play. When specified to runners in scoring position, the Yankees hit fewer line drives still (17.2%) but also have fewer balls fall on the grass (.224 BABIP).

Before you’re too quick to dismiss their struggles with runners in scoring position as a function of their dip in line drive percentage and subsequent rise in ground ball rates, take a long, hard look at that BABIP.  Just because the Yankees swap 5% of line drives for groundballs doesn’t mean their team BABIP should stumble a whopping 87 points.

For illustration’s sake: five players have a line drive rate within one point of the Yankees’ 17.2% with RISP. They are Dee Gordon, Adam Jones, Miguel Montero, Aaron Hill, and Jamey Carroll – a fairly diverse group that features more speedsters than mashers but a catcher, three middle infielders, and an outfielder; and, more importantly, a range of hitting types.

Dee Gordon slaps balls and puts 2.67 on the ground for every fly ball he hits. He has a .274 batting average on balls in play. Adam Jones is an offensive force this year with 16 home runs and a high batting average. His BABIP is .323. Miguel Montero shares a similar profile to Jones with less power, and he has a .339 BABIP. Aaron Hill hits fly balls a lot– too much, dare I say – and has a low batting average. Still, his BABIP is .284. Jamey Carroll is even more extreme than Dee Gordon at keeping the ball on the ground, and his .258 BABIP is well below his .321 career mark.

So, small sample size aside, the moral of the story is that the Yankees’ offensive frustration can mostly be chalked down to bad luck. After all, the team is 6 points below league average offensively in the much talked about RISP scenario. Lady luck will soon turn their fortunes around.

How about Robinson Cano, though; he of a .476 OPS with RISP? That, my friends, is another story totally.

• March 30, 2011 -- ESPN NY Ranks the Top 50 Yankees of All-Time
• December 14, 2010 -- 10 Starters Yankees Could Trade For After Missing Lee
• February 4, 2011 -- Yankees Sign Eric Chavez
• January 6, 2011 -- Rumors: Yankees Willing to Give Pettitte a Raise to Comeback

Original Story: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BronxB...