Yankee Player Development: Position Player Side

As the unskilled replacement Yankees are in the process of losing another game where they only score two runs, let's start to take a look at why so many of them can't hit and why we're not getting better help from the farm.      Position wise, the Yanks have turned out 1 great player since the turn of the century in Robinson Cano and 1 everyday Yankee in Brett Gardner (you can count Melky Cabrera and Auitin Jackson if you want).    And both of those players made it to through the system without learning the value of a walk.   So the amazing things are that there are only 2 actual Yankees and that anyone can graduate the Yankee Minor League system without learning the value of the walk.    

Walks are as much a part of Yankee history as homers.   Miller Huggins had been a high OBP player, and so were Ruth, Gehrig and Coombs.   King King Keller was a walking man.  So was Mickey.   So were Murcer and White when they graduated the system.   In the `90s, Bernie, Jeter and Po all knew more than one way to get on base.   Where did it go?  

Now, the Yanks will tell you that they give players walks targets for each season, but a more proactive solution probably needs to be employed.   Seriously, we have kids who came into the organization taking their walks like Abraham Almonte and Dante Bichette Jr. both entered the organization working walks like pros, but the longer they stayed in it, the less they walked and got on base.   Abe is now in the Mariners system.   Dante is still hitting under .200 in his second year in low A.

How does this happen?   Well one obvious reason is the Yanks don't have any ex-players who knew the value of a walk as minor league managers or hitting instructors.  Now that doesn't mean they can't coach that stuff, but obviously they aren't taking it seriously because guys are getting promoted without supplemental on base skills and without knowing the value of a walk.  

So, guys are getting moved up without controlling the strike zone, and as I mentioned in my speed column, they aren't being taught the basics of bunting.   Brett Gardner tried a drag bunt today and got thrown out easily.   That should not happen to a guy that fast, but none of them know how to bunt.  

So it's really unclear what they're be taught on the hitting side through the system.  Now, for many years the Yanks were drafting guys who were football players they thought would hit, but for the past several years, since they poured money into the scouting staff, they've been drafting guys who can hit again and they've been finding them all over.   They're just not having their good instincts reinforced in the minors.    The kids just don't grind.

Well, what about the defensive side? The problem there is they are not teaching the kids who can hit like Adams and Corban Joseph how to play outfield.   They were mostly going to be blocked by big contracts in the infield for the foreseeable, so both should have been taught how to play the corners.   In the old days Yogi could play left and so could Elston Howard, it was just basic stuff.   JR Murphy is another kid who should be learning other positions, because if things go right, he along with Gary Sanchez should be our catchers of the nearly immediate future.

So what are the solutions to the Position Player Side development problem?   I think it comes down to three things.  First, I think they need and organizational vision of what a kid MUST learn in the minors to be a Yankee.   Second, I think they should stop promoting kids who don't walk.   Third, I think they have to pour money into the teacher side of development like they poured money into the scouting side of acquisition.  

Back in the `90s, when they were churning guys out, young coaches like Brian Butterfield and Trey Hillman were part of a very good program, but now Butterfield is the 3B coach for the Sox and Trey is Mattingly's Dodger bench coach.

I know a few years ago they gave Tony Franklin a raise to come manage AA, but seriously, he has never been down with OBP and I don't know why he's got such a key position.   And of course Luis Sosa is the manager of High A, and he was not one of our OBP believers.  They need to find teachers who are passionate about the way the Yanks have always done things with walks, and defensive versatility.   I don't think they have that now, and they really have to RAISE the standards and not have even the good and great players make it to the bigs without knowing the value of OBP over BA.  

While Gil Patterson might mean changes are underway in pitching development, the Yanks don't currently have 1 hitting czar and there are no indications it's getting any better.