The New York Yankees have been on a roll lately with a 9-2 record since the All-Star break ended and 16-5 over their last 21 games overall. They’re now 57-42 which is good for 7 game lead in the AL East and are now just 4 games back of the AL leading Kansas City Royals. There have been a couple of key factors in the Yankees run of late. Let’s take a look at who these factors have been.
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jacoby Ellsbury was off to a great start but was sidelined by injury. Prior to being sidelined with injury, Ellsbury was hitting .324 at the top of the order. Following Ellsbury in the lineup was a hot Brett Gardner who at the time was hitting above .300. The two set up the rest of the order. Since coming back, Ellsbury has not been as hot at the plate but is still an upgrade over some of the players who have tried to replace him during his time on the sideline.
Chris Young
Young, while part of the problem in trying to replace the absent Ellsbury has also been
A-Rod has enjoyed a nice bounce back season
extremely effective. Young was forced into a full-time role when Ellsbury went down which hurts Young’s value to a team. You see, Young absolutely mashes left-handed pitching. For the season, Young is hitting .371 with 7 home runs and 19 runs batted in in just 97 at-bats. Forced into full-time duty, Young had to play against right-handed pitching where he’s hit .185 with 5 home runs and 14 runs batted in 135 at bats. If the Yankees can keep Young to left-handed pitching duty, they’ll certainly have a great asset in him going forward.
Alex Rodriguez
Alex has been absolutely incredible for the Yankees this season. Not expecting much following the year long suspension, it looks as though the Yankees are getting the Alex of old. A-Rod is hitting .279 with 24 home runs and 60 runs batted in. Both he and Mark Teixeira have 24 home runs each which is good for 5th in the AL. A-Rod isn’t slowing down either as he now has 9 home runs in the month of July including a 3 home run game against the Twins.
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