Sal Grades The Yanks (Infield)

By Sal Maiorana

November 15, 2024

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Sal Maiorana, a friend of the site, shares some of his thoughts on the Yankees.

For Sal's complete analysis on the New York Yankees, you can subscribe to Sal Maiorana's free Pinstripe People Newsletter at https://salmaiorana.beehiiv.com/subscribe.

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2024 Infield Grades: Major Improvements Are Needed

With Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres now free agents, the Yankees have a chance to remake this unit

If re-signing Juan Soto is Brian Cashman’s No. 1 priority this offseason, No. 2 has to be remaking the infield which in 2024 was simply not good enough at pretty much everything.

When I look back on how this group of players performed during the season, both at the plate and in the field, it’s somewhat stunning that the Yankees made it all the way to Game 5 of the World Series.

And then, of course in that Game 5, we were all reminded of how deficient the Yankees were most of the season as critical fielding mistakes, plus some no-shows at the plate, helped hand that game, and the championship, to the Dodgers.

Here are my grades for each player, with a quick explanation on a couple of key numbers I’ll be using.

For each player’s stat line, I have included games played (GP), HRs, RBI, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, outs above average for defense, and WAR for overall performance. For those who don’t know, here are the definitions for WAR and OAA.

WAR: Known as Wins Above Replacement, measures a player’s total value to their team. It’s calculated by comparing a player’s performance to a replacement-level player, who is a player that could be added to the team for a low cost. The WAR value indicates how many more wins a player is worth than a replacement-level player. Obviously, the higher the number, the more valuable. As an example, Aaron Judge led all of MLB at 10.8. If you’re at zero, then you are no better than a backup player who would replace you.

OAA: This is based on the cumulative effect of all individual plays a fielder has been credited or debited with, making it a range-based metric of fielding skill that accounts for the number of plays made and their difficulty. The scale is simple: Zero is average, anything in plus territory is good, negative not so good.

1B Anthony Rizzo: D+

• GP: 92

• HR: 8

• RBI: 35

• BA: .228

• OBP: .301

• SLG: 335

• OPS: .637

• OAA: -3

• WAR: 0.2

The Rizzo era should be over in New York. The Yankees declined a $17 million option and bought him out for $6 million and the severely-in-decline 35-year-old is now a free agent. If they entertain bringing him back, they’re insane. Look, Rizzo was a nice addition at the trade deadline in 2021, but across his 3.5 years in the Bronx, his slash line was .234/.326/.409 for an OPS of .735 and he hit 60 home runs. His total WAR in New York was 3.4, but it was less than one combined in his last two seasons which is incredibly bad.

He did not hit a home run after June 13, he then missed more than two months with an injury, and in his last 25 games he had no homers, five doubles and eight RBI. In the field, well, he was better than anyone else the Yankees tried there, but his -3 OAA ranked him 25th among all first basemen.

2B Gleyber Torres: C

• GP: 154

• HR: 15

• RBI: 63

• BA: .257

• OBP: .330

• SLG: .378

• OPS: .709

• OAA: -4

• WAR: 1.8

Like Rizzo, the Torres era should be over, too. He did not receive the one-year, $21 million qualifying offer from the Yankees so he’s a free agent. They didn’t offer it because they were scared to hell that he would take it. While Cashman left open the possibility that they could re-sign him, the Yankees should run in the other direction because we’ve all seen enough from Torres.

Undoubtedly, he was much better in the second half and then was solid at the plate in the postseason, but his poor fundamentals in the field (he led all second baseman with 18 errors)

and on the base paths (he led MLB in times being thrown out at home) routinely hurt the Yankees and they simply have to find someone better. His inconsistency and mental lapses will not be missed.

SS Anthony Volpe: C+

• GP: 160

• HR: 12

• RBI: 60

• BA: .243

• OBP: .293

• SLG: .364

• OPS: .657

• OAA: +14

• WAR: 3.4

Volpe was such a frustrating player. He remained a plus defender - until that awful play in Game 5 - and while he didn’t repeat as a Gold Glove winner, his plus-14 OAA ranked him sixth among shortstops, and his 3.4 WAR was third on the team behind only Judge and Soto. He made a change to his batting approach and tried to be a gap-to-gap hitter and all that did was cause him to hit nine fewer homers that his rookie season. His average went up from .209, but his on-base went up only marginally from .283 because he chases too much and drew only 42 walks.

At the beginning of the year I was fine with that, and his hot start had him looking like the ideal leadoff hitter in the lineup. But he was so bad thereafter (he had a .293 on-base batting leadoff) that the Yankees finally knocked him down the order. No matter where he batted, Volpe went into far too many prolonged slumps and he has to improve on staying out of those killer funks.

3B Jazz Chisholm: B-

• GP: 46

• HR: 11

• RBI: 23

• BA: .273

• OBP: .325

• SLG: .500

• OPS: .825

• OAA: +7

• WAR: 1.5

The above numbers are only from Chisholm’s 46 games as a Yankee. You have to give Jazz credit because when the Yankees acquired him from the Marlins, he had never played third base as a pro, but he made the position switch and actually did a nice job as you see from his plus-7 OAA. Sure, there were a few rough moments, but he immediately plugged a gaping hole in the infield.

He got off to an amazing start at the plate as he hit seven homers and had an OPS of 1.092 in his first 12 games, but over his last 34 games he hit just four homers and his OPS sank to .719. Then in the postseason, he was not good at all, a .182 average and a terrible .559 OPS.

Still, he’ll be back in 2025 and the Yankees can either keep him at third or perhaps move him back to his more natural spot at second with Torres gone, then find a third baseman. Or, leave him at third and give emerging prospect Caleb Durbin a try at second.

IF DJ LeMahieu: D-

• GP: 67

• HR: 2

• RBI: 26

• BA: .204

• OBP: .269

• SLG: .259

• OPS: .527

• OAA: +4

• WAR: -1.6

He fouled a ball off his foot in spring training, missed the first couple months, then was flat out one of the worst hitters in all of MLB until he got hurt again and missed the final month and all the postseason. Just a disastrous season, and I dare to say that even if he had been healthy, he would have still been competent in the field but his days as a productive hitter are long gone. The Yankees are still on the hook for two years and $30 million of sunken cost, and the wise thing to do would be to eat the money and release him because he’s washed as a player.

IF Oswaldo Cabrera: B-

• GP: 108

• HR: 8

• RBI: 36

• BA: .247

• OBP: .296

• SLG: .365

• OPS: .661

• OAA: +2

• WAR: 1.3

He was a perfectly fine player in the role he served as a utility man who could play all over the infield, and even in the outfield in a pinch. Cabrera isn’t a master at any position, but he gave the Yankees reliability and there was occasional flash in his bat as he improved his average from .211 in 2023 to .247. Of course, his .296 on-base was not good because he walked only 6.4% of the time.

1B Ben Rice: D

• GP: 50

• HR: 7

• RBI: 23

• BA: .171

• OBP: .264

• SLG: .349

• OPS: .613

• OAA: -1

• WAR: -0.4

After raking at Triple-A, the Yankees gave him a chance when Rizzo went down and while he had the game of his life on the day my daughter got married, hitting three homers against the Red Sox, the rest of his tenure was a mess. He’s a rookie, so who knows where he goes from here, but he was clearly overmatched at the MLB level and this is not a player the Yankees can move forward with at first base. They have to sign someone free agency.

IF Jon Berti: D

• GP: 25

• HR: 1

• RBI: 6

• BA: .273

• OBP: .342

• SLG: .318

• OPS: .661

• OAA: -1

• WAR: 0.6

I loved this acquisition at the end of spring training because I thought Berti would be the guy to play third base after LeMahieu went down. He was a good fielder, decent hitter and added speed to the lineup, but his entire season was a flop because he was hurt so much. His lengthy IL stints were partially why the Yankees had to trade for Chisholm. Sorry, but his grade is based on the most important ability of all, availability, which he wasn’t.

C Austin Wells: C+

• GP: 115

• HR: 13

• RBI: 55

• BA: .229

• OBP: .322

• SLG: .395

• OPS: .718

• OAA: NA

• WAR: 2.5

At the catcher position in today’s game, teams are perfectly willing to live with poor offense in exchange for top-notch defense. Weirdly, Wells came up through the system as a strong hitter who needed to work on his defense, but once he made it to New York, the opposite was true. Wells made great improvement as a receiver through the year and eventually became the starter ahead of Jose Trevino who was originally considered the better defender.

Per Statcast metrics, Wells was above average at blocking, third-best in framing strikes, and was around middle of the pack in throwing even though his average miles per hour on throws was 77.9 which ranked 44th among all catchers. Make what you will out of these stats because they are subjective and way, way deep in the weeds, but they do provide context.

As a batter, Wells was a disappointment. He got off to a terrible start and was hitting .190 with one home run in his first 36 games, then got hot and in his next 58 games he hit .299 with 11 homers and 37 RBI and solidified the dead zone that had been the cleanup spot. But in September he was pathetic as he hit .111 with a .411 OPS, and that continued through the postseason when he hit .120 with a .460 OPS.

C Jose Trevino: C-

• GP: 73

• HR: 8

• RBI: 28

• BA: .215

• OBP: .288

• SLG: .354

• OPS: .642

• OAA: NA

• WAR: 0.6

Trevino was once again a weak hitter and often a black hole in the lineup, but in 2024, his defense began to decline to the point where Wells took over as the No. 1 catcher. Trevino’s arm strength of 72.9 mph was 90th among 92 catchers and his 14% caught stealing rate ranked 66th. He was slightly better at blocking than Wells and was fifth-best in MLB at framing. Trevino is due back for 2025, so it looks like nothing is changing behind the plate for the Yankees.