The Yankees Offense Has Completely Stopped Producing Runs

There’s an adage in baseball that says, “You’re never as good as you look when you’re winning or as bad as you look when you’re losing.” The New York Yankees will have to keep that in mind because they’ve lost five in a row, and they look terrible.

The Yankees, who still lead the American League with 370 runs scored, have been completely inept at the plate. They’ve been shut out in three consecutive games, tying a franchise record. Stretching back a little further, they’ve plated only five runs in their last six games. They’ve hit .164 as a team during that span with just one home run, the dramatic ninth-inning blast by Aaron Judge off Garrett Crochet on Friday that sent the game into extra innings, where the Red Sox won in the tenth frame.

Cold Yankees Hitters

When a team scores no runs at all over three games, there’s a lot of blame to go around. The only Yankees hitter who’s doing well right now—albeit over a small sample—is designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton. He was activated from the injured list on Monday, and is 4-8 with a double in his first two games of the season.

Aaron Judge still leads the league in nearly every hitting category, but he has struck out in more than half of his plate appearances lately. Over the brutal six-game stretch, he’s 2-20 with 13 strikeouts and two walks. Four of the nine three-strikeout games he’s had this year have come in the last week, including in the game where he homered off Crochet.

The club has two first basemen who started the year red hot, and juggling playing time hasn’t been easy for manager Aaron Boone. Now, neither of them seems lively at the plate. Paul Goldschmidt’s batting average has dropped from .338 to .304 in June, and his batting line this month is a paltry .170/.241/.245. Ben Rice has only four singles and three walks in his last 37 plate appearances, and he hasn’t homered since June 1.

Young Yankees Jasson Dominguez, Anthony Volpe, and Austin Wells have also slowed down lately, with Dominguez and Volpe making costly outs on the basepaths as well. Dominguez has three hits in his last 20 trips to the plate, Volpe has three singles in his last 22 at bats, and Wells is one for his last 14.

Wells, a left-handed hitter, has played against left-handed pitching more than he did last year because the team’s backup catcher, J.C. Escarra, also bats lefty. They traded away multiple right-handed hitting catchers this offseason, including likely All-Star Carlos Narvaez.

Veteran bats have been part of the problem, too. Cody Bellinger has only two singles and a walk since Thursday, Trent Grisham is batting .211 with no home runs in the month of June, and DJ LeMahieu is hitless in his last 13 plate appearances. His lack of range at second base let a grounder through for an RBI single last night, perpetuating a three-run inning for the Los Angeles Angels.

Yankees Solutions

The Yankees can’t replace the whole lineup. They don’t need to do that anyway—some of their hitters are just slumping and they’ll pull out of it sooner or later. However, they could look to make some changes with the trading season heating up.

The most obvious place where they could make an addition would be in the infield. LeMahieu still makes a lot of contact, but he has no real power. He’ll turn 37 in July, and his range isn’t what it used to be. In fact, he’s the oldest player in MLB who has played either second base or shortstop this season.

Jazz Chisholm moved from second base to third base when LeMahieu came off the injured list in May, but he’s more experienced up the middle. Acquiring a third baseman could move him back to his more comfortable spot and push LeMahieu into a backup role.

The club could improve their lineup relatively cheaply by adding a right-handed hitting backup catcher. Escarra has been a fun player to root for as a 30-year-old rookie, and he hasn’t hit badly for a backup with a .230/.333/.361 batting line. Still, if the Yankees acquire a righty-swinger who can specialize against left-handed pitching, they would have a natural platoon with Wells, who wouldn’t have to see so many lefties.

The Yankees won’t stay dormant forever. More likely than not, they’ll score at least one run today in their final game against the Angels—imagine the sarcastic cheers from the home crowd—but they should see this June swoon as a wakeup call that they’re offense is in need of a jumpstart.