Yankees offensive problems are first and center

Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams are not walking through that door.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, neither are Luke Voit and Aaron Hicks, whose injuries catalyzed a major issue, one that’s tied their offense to the ground and prevented it from taking flight.

The Bombers’ first basemen and center fielders have been atrocious. Two premium offensive positions — admittedly utilizing backups, third stringers and minor league call ups — have become liabilities at the plate. Combined, the Yankees’ merry band of first basemen and center fielders are hitting .178/.272/.278 through the team’s first 61 games.

The brunt of the blame here goes to DJ LeMahieu and Brett Gardner, the players who have primarily held down the positions. LeMahieu has played first more than anyone on the roster. Curiously, in his 91 plate appearances as a first baseman, LeMahieu is hitting .232 with a .308 on-base percentage. When playing second (which he’s still done more than first this year), he’s at .253 and getting on base at a .348 clip. All three of his home runs, oddly, have come in games where he’s playing third base.

That is all coincidental. What’s not a coincidence is the fact that having 13 players tag team two important positions is detrimental to a ball club. As the old football adage goes: if you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one. Aaron Boone is quickly learning that if you have six different first basemen and seven different center fielders, you have a black hole in the lineup card.

As long as Voit is out, LeMahieu will get most of the looks at first base. That is not a bad course of action in theory. After all, LeMahieu is a two-time batting champion and the sixth-most valuable position player in the American League from 2019 to 2020. In practice, though, LeMahieu’s rapid decline has ruined the party.

The Yankees’ offense is much different when LeMahieu consistently reaches base, setting the table for Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres. Apart from post-injury Stanton, whose recent strife has undercut his brilliant start, those three have done their job. LeMahieu not being out there to score, regardless of what position he’s playing, is among the chief reasons why the Yankees are 26th out of 30 teams in runs.

Turnover has defined the first base position since Mark Teixeira retired. Since 2017 — the first year after Teixeira hung up his cleats — the list of Yankee first basemen includes Greg Bird, Chris Carter, Garrett Cooper, Ji-Man Choi, Chase Headley, Kendrys Morales, Rob Refsnyder and Neil Walker, just to name a few. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the record for most first basemen used in a single Yankee season is ten, set way back in 1905. In 2017, though, they used nine. In 2018, it was five, and in 2019 the first base mitt changed hands six times (never forget the Edwin Encarnacion era).

Things normalized a bit during the shortened 2020 campaign, but the Yankees are back to their old ways this year. Unless LeMahieu finds his swing — which is fairly likely given how complete he is as a hitter — or a much less likely star turn is coming from Chris Gittens, the former post of Gehrig, Chambliss and Mattingly will remain a black eye on this trying season.

Center field has only been marginally better. The composite .184 batting average ekes out the first basemen’s .172, which is like saying a sprained wrist is better than a tweaked hamstring. They’ve both been bad, and center field in particular looks bleak given Hicks’ injury diagnosis and Gardner’s .558 OPS. Entering play on Wednesday night, Gardner’s .194 batting average is identical to the one Hicks had in 32 games before wrist surgery. If the Yankees want to shuffle Judge to center to get some long-awaited production from the position, they’d be left with the same problem all over again in the corners.

Gardner’s age is beginning to show, and the Yankees keep running the 37 year old out there despite being 42% worse than the league average hitter, according to FanGraphs. As he slogs his way through his 14th season, the younger, ideal replacement has been equally disheartening. Heading into the season, the plan was for Gardner and Clint Frazier to share left field while Hicks and Judge rounded out the outfield. Hicks’ wrist now forces both of them into everyday playing time, which has spawned a .191/.309/.322 line from Frazier. Even if the Yankees liked his defense enough to try him in center field, Frazier’s bat wouldn’t improve the situation.

A Frazier, Judge, Miguel Andujar outfield might be worth exploring. Andujar has held his own in left field and has been a rare bright spot at the dish, where he’s 9-for-31 over the last eight games, recording a hit in seven of them. Andujar is also a candidate for the starting first base job until Voit returns. Having the utility man take first moves LeMahieu back to second and Rougned Odor’s porous bat to the bench.

The Yankees have a lot of different directions they can go. Frankly, getting inventive with defensive alignments in search of a spark is better than the status quo. There’s also the possibility of trades as the always eventful month of July inches closer. Arizona’s Ketel Marte, a switch-hitting, defensively versatile hitting machine, will be the belle of the deadline ball. Veteran first basemen Jesus Aguilar and Colin Moran are also putting up solid numbers on expiring contracts for languishing teams. If they want to look within the division, Baltimore’s Anthony Santander could help the outfield as well.

One thing is for sure, though. Getting sub-Mendoza line stats from two vital parts of the team will not get the Yankees to where they want to be, or even into the playoffs at this rate.