After an elite start to the 2023 season campaign, the New York Yankees have witnessed a shocking slump. The situation now has gotten out of hand as the Bombers find themselves sitting alone at the bottom of the American League East table. What’s more surprising is that before the start of the season, the club’s top brass made a lot of promises and even termed the Yankees lineup as a force to be reckoned with.
However, as the season progressed, injuries started pouring down, and the Yankees’ offense took a hit. Players like Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, and many more serve valuable time on the injury list. Aaron Judge and Harrison Bader, too, missed significant time due to respective injuries. As a result, the team as a unit suffered to generate many offensive productions, which eventually led to consecutive losses. However, the team’s hitting coach is not much concerned about the offense’s dire state.
Yankees Hitting Coach Downplays Severe Offensive Concerns
The New York Yankees, known for their powerful lineup and ability to score runs, have been underperforming offensively in recent games. They have struggled to generate consistent offense and have had difficulties stringing together hits and producing runs. This has led to concerns among fans and pundits who expected more from a team with such offensive firepower. However, to everyone’s surprise, the Yankees hitting coach, Dillon Lawson, despite the team’s struggles with offensive production, has expressed that he is not bothered by their performance.
Lawson states that hitting is not as easy as it seems on television. There’s a lot of mental battle going on inside the batter’s head when he steps into the batter’s box. Hence, he likes to uplift his players with as much confidence as possible. The hitting coach further added that he doesn’t care what the stats are and where the team ranks in offensive production. The Bombers’ ultimate goal as a team is to win games. If the team scores two runs and wins games, he goes home more than pleased. While Lawson admitted that the current dry run is a cause of concern, it’s nothing the team is not capable of handling. Overall, Dillon Lawson looked confident and promised that once the core lineup is settled, it will produce results sooner than later.
Bombers Offense Redeems Itself Against Athletics
Too much has already been discussed about the New York Yankees’ low offensive production. Yes, the team failed to score against the likes of Rangers and Rays. However, they earned their chance at redemption against the dispirited Oakland Athletics. In the course of three games, the New York-based team clubbed together a total of 28 runs, with 11 coming off the final game. While one can argue that Athletics is a relatively weaker team, something is better than nothing.
At least the team now has some momentum to play around in the next stretch, where they face the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays. Another factor working in the Yankees’ favor is the return of the core group. The Yankees’ core hitting group consists of players like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Harrison Bader, and DJ LeMahieu. Out of these names, only DJ has managed to stay healthy. All others spent a fair share of time on IL. Regardless, Judge and Bader have already returned, and Stanton’s comeback is not too far away. Hence, once the whole lineup comes together, we expect the Bombers to explode again.