Mid-Season Awards for the 2024 New York Yankees

Mid-Season Awards for the 2024 New York Yankees

By Derek McAdam

July 18, 2024

***

With only one day remaining until the final two and a half months of the MLB regular season resume, it feels only fitting to hand out some awards to players of the New York Yankees for their performances based on the first 98 games of the 2024 season. While many of these awards will be more of a positive note, there will be some “dishonorable” awards that I will be giving some players. 

One aspect I must mention before giving out these awards is that these are based only amongst Yankee players and, unless noted, does not include the entire league. 

Most Positive Surprise of the Year: Luis Gil 

Coming into Spring Training, Gil was seen as another depth arm that was likely going to spend a lot of time with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and would be called up in the result of an injury. Fortunately for him, he took advantage of Gerrit Cole’s injury and has made a name for himself in the Bronx. 

In 19 starts, Gil is 10-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 102.1 IP. His biggest issue is command, as he has walked 49 batters in those respective innings. However, he has mostly been able to keep runners stranded if they manage to get on base.  Many Yankee pitchers that have come up through the farm system have struggled with command, so this is not a huge concern of mine. Gil has a very good arsenal of pitches and can put batters away with any of those pitches. 

I was not big on Gil coming into the season, but he has changed my mind, even with those few brutal starts in a row he had. There’s no question that the Yankees are going to be extremely reliant on him over the next couple of months to continue his excellent pitching. 

Most Negative Surprise of the Year: DJ LeMahieu

This may surprise many of you, but I’m actually stunned at how bad LeMahieu has been at the plate this season. Yes, he’s been riddled with injuries since he signed that six-year contract before the 2021 season, but he’s reached a low that I just don’t think he’s going to be able to recover from. 

This season, he’s hitting .188 and has one less strikeout than he does base hits. He only has three extra base hits, the first of which took him a while to record. And it seems as if he’s having trouble elevating the ball into the outfield, as most of his balls put into play never leave the infield. 

Sure, LeMahieu is still a good defensive player. But his offense has gone so far downhill. This off-season may be the time where the Yankees decide to part ways with LeMahieu via a buyout, but I can’t be so sure Brian Cashman would be willing to admit that it was a failed contract. 

Most Improved Yankee (So Far): Giancarlo Stanton 

This award could definitely go to a couple of different players. Clarke Schmidt has taken a step forward, but Stanton has really looked like a different player compared to last year. Before his injury, Stanton was hitting .246 with 18 home runs and 45 RBIs. Last season, he hit .191 with 24 home runs and 60 RBIs. 

Stanton said that he adjusted his off-season routine by incorporating more running and less weightlifting into his regimen.He also tweaked his approach at the plate and incorporated a new swing pattern. It definitely seemed to have been working for the 34-year old. 

Here’s the thing regarding Stanton. If the Yankees can get .240 and maybe 25-35 home runs out of Stanton, they would gladly take it. They wouldn’t want to see Aaron Judge or Juan Soto with those statistics, but they could salvage that out of Stanton. He’s never been a pure hitter like Judge or Soto are, but more of a power guy who crushes the ball every time he puts it into play. 

It seems as if Stanton is nearing a return from his injury, and it’s even a possibility that he won’t do a rehab assignment. However, I don’t think it would hurt if he did do one.

Most Likely to Rebound In Second Half: Anthony Volpe 

It was a dream start to the season for Volpe. He was hitting well enough to be moved into the leadoff role, and was having very good success there. But then he began to slump and it was downhill from there. To make things even worse, his error on Sunday is partially why the Yankees were unable to sweep the Baltimore Orioles, which would have been a huge momentum booster going into the break. 

Volpe’s struggles seem to have stemmed around the fact that he hasn’t hit a home run since May 16. And I have no doubt that the analytics team has made him aware of this situation. But that exact mentality is the reason why he didn’t have great numbers at the plate last season. Sure, he showed some power, but he also struck out a lot. He’s reverted back to similar patterns from last season, and his numbers have plummeted since. 

I believe his error on Sunday is going to rejuvenate him. It was not only a bad error to commit, but the Yankees have also had several days off. I’m sure it has stuck with him during this time. While there are many players that will be on the radar over the next couple of months, Volpe’s performance is going to be one that I’ll be examining much more closely. 

Most Valuable Player: Aaron Judge 

There’s not really much that I have to say to get this point across. Judge has been absolutely phenomenal this season, and what makes it even more impressive is how bad of a start he got off to. I remember getting so frustrated watching him at the plate in April, as he was striking out a lot or either grounding into double plays. Mark Teixeira was known for getting off to brutally slow starts, but he would almost always rebound and have an overall good season. This was the case for Judge. 

Judge is hitting .306 with 34 home runs and 85 RBIs. He leads MLB in nearly every major hitting statistic and is putting up numbers that are very similar to his monumental 2022 season. Will Judge end up breaking his 2022 record? I don’t think he will, but I have no doubt that he’s still going to put up very solid numbers once the regular season ends. 

Not only is he the Yankee MVP, but he would be my pick for AL MVP is the season ended today. Gunnar Henderson is also involved in this conversation a lot, and rightfully so, but Judge’s offensive numbers are all better than Henderson’s. Sure, I may be showing my bias, but Judge should take home the award if it was given out today. 

Who do you think is deserving (or undeserving) of these awards?