Yankees: Aaron Hicks’ confidence in his power shouldn’t be taken lightly

Aaron Hicks was not shy when asked about what he thinks his power numbers could look like in 2021.

If you wanted to find true value at the plate then you really wouldn’t need to look any further than New York Yankees’ centerfielder Aaron Hicks.

Hicks is entering his sixth season in pinstripes and he’s only hit above .250 once. Even though his average may not be that high he’s only had one season where he posted an OBP lower than .325. In a 60 game 2020 season he managed to rack up 41 walks, and if you let him tell you he didn’t do it on purpose.

Now he has his eyes set on doing some serious damage at the plate in 2021; so long as he stays healthy.

Aaron Hicks’ could be a major force in the Yankees lineup yet again

Ever since Hicks arrived in New York via trade back in 2015 he’s become one of baseball’s poster boys for plate discipline. He’s been in the top six percent of the league in walk rate three of the past four years, and the one year he wasn’t it was because he missed half the season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Last season was a strange one for all involved, and plenty of players under-performed, and Hicks was no exception. He wants to hit 30 home runs this season, and to be quite honest it’s not out of the realm of possibility. The last time he played a full season he was pretty close to hitting that benchmark.

“I definitely see myself hitting 30 plus. That’s what I want to do and that’s what I believe that I can do. If get 500 plate appearances, I’m definitely going to hit my mark with those numbers,” Hicks said, per NJ.com.

Back in 2018 Hicks posted his best power numbers with 27 home runs. Since 2017, Hicks has a .210 ISO which is top-15 among all centerfielders and he absolutely mashes fastballs.

During the 2018 season he had a run value of 17 against 4-seam fastballs with a hard hit rate just over 50 percent. One can assume he’s going to hit second or third in this Yankees lineup with guys like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton protecting him, so he should get plenty of fastballs to hit. Combine that with his elite plate discipline and that spells trouble for opposing pitchers.

A few things could hold him back from reaching the 30 home run mark. He doesn’t hit breaking balls all that well, which over the course of a full season could play a major role.

In 2018 he only swung at 64 percent of pitches in the zone but he made contact on 80 percent of the pitches he swung at. He doesn’t necessarily have to swing at more pitches, but he might have to sacrifice a bit of his selectiveness to achieve more power.

At this point in his career Hicks’ work at the plate speaks for itself. He’s had a wRC+ of 123 or higher three and a barrel rate of 7.5 percent or higher three of the last four seasons. He should project to have a barrel rate just above eight percent even with the down year last season in that regard which is good.

If Aaron Hicks can get back to his normal performance against fastballs and stay healthy, he could be in for a big season with the Yankees.