As the New York Yankees start the week with a series against the Houston Astros, you probably noticed the continuation of a recent trend. That trend is that of four straight left-handed hitters at the top of the lineup: Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, Luis Garcia Jr., and Cody Bellinger. As much as the current numbers and the general lack of right-handed production tend to favor this choice, it is easy to become concerned with the problems such a setup raises.
At the bottom of the order, one might feel more
at ease about sequencing several hitters in a row from one side of the plate due to the ability to pinch hit for some—especially true for a Yankee team with a right-handed specialists off the bench —but that opportunity isn’t there among for top hitters. It’s a paradoxical thing since you’d figure that your top hitters wouldn’t need to be pinch-hit for, but that’s not entirely true, at least not for Garcia.
The timing of this article isn’t ideal since it comes a day after Garcia had a big hit off a left-handed reliever in Steven Okert, even if it didn’t decide the game. Still, his season numbers indicate the rarity of that accomplishment, as Garcia entered the last game with a .581 OPS against southpaws in the middle of a career year. You still want and need a right-handed presence to balance the top of the order.
Once you stack the left-handed hitters like that, it becomes easy for an opposing manager to bring on a lefty specialist. As a group, this foursome has a reliable enough track record against southpaws to make this a swallowable pill, and it’s why they’re choosing this route in the first place, but it’s far from the ideal scenario. Rice has 10 homers and a 119 wRC+ against lefties this season, while Bellinger and Grisham sit at 110 and 104, respectively.
The problems with this choice are well-established; the Yankees know it, yet they’re risking it. They’re doing so not only because the track record of their lefty hitters allows for such, but primarily because the right-handed hitters on the active roster are forcing their hand. Deadline acquisition Helliot Ramos has played his way into a more limited role in less than a month, courtesy of not hitting water falling off a boat, and a little over a week ago we talked here about the dangers of asking too much out of George Lombard Jr., who already finds himself steadily higher up in the order, batting fifth in this series opener against the Astros. Beyond those two, you have no healthy choices under consideration to bat high in the lineup.
Sticking to a previously established belief should only make sense as long as the belief makes sense. In other words, if we’re to truly assume that Ramos is going to continue struggling in the way that he has, the Yankees may have to reassess this whole policy of easing in Lombard. In the end, there is what we would like in an ideal world, and there is the reality of adapting to your current situation. If we weren’t so concerned about how Lombard would handle such a task, the alternative would be rather clear.
The lack of a right-handed presence at the top is not only a problem but also a wasted opportunity—that hitter would clearly benefit from facing southpaws late in games as they enter to face the Yankees’ most dangerous hitters. Usually, we’re talking about the top lefties out of a given bullpen, but the matchup advantage might be there against more traditional specialists. It’s something that Lombard could, and Ramos definitely should, take advantage of. He was acquired in large part for this specific reason.
Hopefully, this temporary problem is fixed when Aaron Judge returns to anchor this lineup, but until then, the Yankees could run into some problems without any kind of right-handed presence near the top of the order to balance this lineup.
