Monday, July 7, 2008

Brett Gardner after 21 At Bats...

Brett Gardner had a dramatic 10th inning hit to win the game. You know that by now.

You also probably know that after last nights 2-5 performance, he's hitting .143 on the season.

Lets look closer at the numbers. He has 3 hits, and 2 walks. Of those 5 times that he has been on base, he has come around to score on 4 of those occasions. He is also a perfect 3 for 3 in stolen bases.

Still, he is only hitting .143 with just a .208 OBP. Yes, he has hit a few balls hard that found their way into gloves, but not enough times to think he'd be doing much better than .143.

His defense has been great. When I watch him approach a fly ball or throw in, I haven't been worried.

I think he has the potential to be a good all around player for the Yankees. I don't know if he'll hit .270, but he could steal 30 bases the rest of the way. He also seems to do what a lot of the other Yankees can't right now, and that's just put the ball in play. His sacrifice fly in Saturdays game was huge, and seemed like something the Yankees haven't been able to do all season. He also tends to see a lot of pitches, which is great for the Yankees since they need a lead off man right now.

We'll see how it goes the rest of the way, but so far despite the low average Yankee fans have to be encouraged by what they've seen from Gardner.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi dman,

You have been touting Brett Gardner for months and your incite has proven true. He is a solid replacement for Johnny Damon.
-mlm