A couple weeks ago I jumped on the wagon with those fans who were seriously questioning if Melky should stay as the Yankees starting CF.
Since then he has hit a little bit better. In his last 13 games he's hitting at .348, which has raised his average to .270 for the season. But more times than not, he looks lost at the plate.
Enter Brett Gardner. The movement in his favor was small at the beginning of the season, but has since grown with both River Ave Blues and the LoHud blog seemingly jumping on board with the idea of giving him a chance.
And why not? Even if he can't hit higher than .270, he has speed and is a smart base runner. (So, for example, you won't see him slide head first into first base) He can steal, he can cover more ground in the OF and now in AAA he's even hitting for power and getting extra bases.
So far in Scranton Brett has hit .295 with a .414 OBP (compare that to Melky's .322) . He has already stolen 25 bases, and only been caught 8 times. He has also hit 9 doubles and 7 triples on the season.
It's hard to say how long he'll be ignored. One thing working heavily against him, is that he is a left handed hitter. The Yankees are so loaded with lefties, I'm not sure they want to add another one permanently into the lineup.
It'll be interesting to see what happens, but right now the call for him to come to the big league is getting louder. Melky should be hearing footsteps.
Just for comparison purposes:
Jacoby Ellsbury 2007 in AAA-
87 games, .298 Avg, .360 OBP, .380 Slg, 14 doubles, 5 triples, 33 SB, 6CS
Brett Gardner 2008 in AAA-
61 games, .295 Avg, .414 OBP,448 SLG, 9 doubles, 7 triples, 25SB, 8CS
4 comments:
Gardner is actually showing better numbers against LHP this year:
vs. LHP - .349 .440 .619
vs. RHP - .272 .403 .374
Yes, and I wish I knew more about that.
I haven't seen him play very much so I can't tell if thats a fluke, or if he's really adept at hitting those lefthanders.
Great blog today, Dman. After yesterday's poor at bat in the 9th, Melky should be nervous. He should have waited for a called strike before swinging weaky and slowly grounding out. Melky is fun but enough is enough. Bring on Brett Gardner. -mlm
Competition brings out the best - bring on Brett!
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