Do the Yankees have the best infield in baseball?
Didi Gregorius
The Yankees shortstop isn’t going to make Yankees fans forget about Derek Jeter, but he’s having a solid season overall. Curiously, he’s gone through both the biggest hot streak and biggest slump on the team.
Gregorius started the season blasting home runs all over the place. He was never going to keep that pace up for an entire season, but the fact that he’s already hit 14 balls out of the yard represents solid production. If he can duplicate that total in the second half of the season it will comfortably be his career high in home runs.
After his white-hot start he went through a slump that seemed to last forever. He tried to pull everything and pitchers took advantage of his exuberance. In some ways, his initial home run streak might have brought on the slump that defined the second part of his season.
Fortunately, he’s found his way out of that slump now and he is hitting the ball to all fields once again. He’s never going to win a batting title, but it’s reasonable to expect his batting average of .260 to increase slightly as the year goes on.
Gregorius also deserves more credit than he receives for his work in the field. He’s not the flashiest defender in the game, but he makes his share of plays. Add it all up and he’s a solidly above-average shortstop for the Yanks.