As the ball flew and dunked into the left-center field grass, a sense of disbelief washed over me. What I thought was going to be another out in a long list of them became a game-winning double, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. tied the game for the Yankees and Austin Wells snuck his foot under the tag at home plate to seal the victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Jose Caballero was 0-for-2 before coming up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning with two runners on in the third game of the four-game
set against the Angels. Through the series, including those at-bats, he was 2-for-10 with two RBI, with both of those hits coming in the thrilling 11-10 extra innings victory. And a .200 batting average is better than where he (or any of the five players who have graced the bottom-half of the Yankees lineup) sits at the present moment.
Since the beginning of the season, the Yankees have struggled at the plate outside of a couple of consistent names like Ben Rice and Aaron Judge. Leadoff man Trent Grisham is batting .164, and while Cody Bellinger is hitting .242, his .693 OPS is much lower than desired out of the cleanup spot in the order. And while Giancarlo Stanton is racking up the hits (maybe with not as much power), the issues in the order then begin to make themselves apparent.
The final four hitters in the Yankees lineup are all hitting below the Mendoza line.
Chisholm is hitting .185, Austin Wells is batting .191, and Caballero sits at .186 with Ryan McMahon at a paltry .119. Oh, and Randal Grichuk, who has stepped into the lineup at times through this early part of the 2026 season, is hitting .063. And it’s not as if any of them are getting on base at a high rate to make up for not making much happen with the bat. The only player of those five with an OBP over .300 is Wells. All of this leads to the conclusion for Yankees fans that if the bottom of the order is up in a tight situation, you can more than likely consider the game over. What happened against the Angels in walk-off fashion is more of a miracle at this stage than anything that can be expected on even a semi-regular basis.
For example, when the Yankees were trying to avoid being swept by the Tampa Bay Rays for the first time since 2019, the bottom of the order was up to bat following Aaron Judge’s home run to bring the game within one. Bellinger struck out, and another out was earned by Rays closer Mason Englert before Wells stepped up to the plate. Following a missed pitch by Englert, Wells was intentionally walked, putting the tying run on base. But it was McMahon who stepped into the batter’s box, and what was expected by everyone came to fruition.
While there are certainly areas of the game in which the Yankees’ bottom half of the order is helpful (Caballero’s speed, McMahon’s defense, Jazz’s bat and speed when he’s playing at his best), there’s simply no excuse for a team trying to win a World Series to have players performing this poorly consistently in their lineup. And it’s not as if the potential replacements are any good either. The only one offering any hope of consistency is Anthony Volpe, but he’s still a couple of weeks away, and even his bat can be extremely iffy at times (although it’s well-known that his defense is important during crunch time). Outside of Volpe, though, the bench is grim, as Paul Goldschmidt and Grichuk are not suitable, higher-than-replacement-level players to help aid any of these positions. Amed Rosario has been helpful, but the chances of that being consistent over an extended period of time don’t fall in line with his overall career numbers and trends.
The Yankees are in desperate need of someone in the bottom of the order to step up at this point of the season. While it’s still very early into the 162-game slate, even slight improvements from a couple of players would benefit the entire Yankees squad.
