Currently the fourth outfielder for the New York Yankees, Aaron Hicks, is not getting the job done and his role may soon be diminished if his woes continue.
New York Yankees’ outfielder Aaron Hicks has been a major disappointment thus far. General Manager Brian Cashman traded former catcher John Ryan Murphy for Hicks in a straight swap with the Minnesota Twins in December of 2015. The thought process behind the trade was that the Yankees were strong organizationally at the catching position and Murphy was seen as an everyday starter in the eyes of a few other ball clubs. After Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury broke down in the second half of 2015, Cashman figured twenty-six year old Aaron Hicks would provide some fresh legs, and another bat who can hit competently off of left-handed pitching, just like former outfielder Chris Young was able to do.
The season before the Yankees acquired Hicks, he hit .307/.375/.495 against lefties. Against righties, he only hit 235/.302/.359. So this version of Aaron Hicks was expected to be a platoon player for the Yankees with the possibility to steal some at-bats if he could improve from the left side of the plate. “At the very least, he’ll be taking Chris Young’s spot,” Cashman said of Hicks in December.
One month later, the expectations began to rise for the former 14th overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft: “For him to have a good year is extremely important, because if you could start playing four or five days a week and give these guys a day off a week, or maybe even two days if they need a couple of days, it would really help them down the stretch,” said Joe Girardi of Aaron Hicks.
Fast forward to June of 2016, and the thought of playing Aaron Hicks four or five times a week is not to be taken seriously. Versus right-handed pitching, Hicks is hitting .242 .290 .403. Against lefties, he’s hitting .137 .224 .157. While neither of these splits are any good, Hicks isn’t even doing the job that he was brought to New York to do–hit left-handed pitching. Joe Girardi has actually given him more at-bats against RHP than LHP.
There isn’t much substance to lean on in hoping that Aaron Hicks will get back to being respectable at the plate. Currently, Hicks is sitting under the Mendoza Line hitting .195 but he’s only a career .235 hitter. Before this season, he’s never had over 390 plate appearances. To make matters worse, the Minnesota Twins gave up on the guy while only paying him the league minimum. Of course, Hicks became expendable for the Twins when Byron Buxton arrived, but there’s still something to be said about a small market team giving up on a player at such a young age with so much more financial controllability remaining.
The one silver lining to this trade is that John Ryan Murphy is currently not at the major league level because of his early season struggles. The Yankees may have dodged a bullet in terms of what they gave up for Aaron Hicks, but he certainly isn’t getting the job done in the big leagues. If this were to continue, it may not be long before Hicks finds himself in the minor leagues just like Murphy.
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Name to watch: Outfielder
has been playing very well in triple-a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre hitting .289/.330/.518 in 83 at-bats. What’s most encouraging about Cave is that he’s been destroying left-handed pitching, hitting .348, which is something Hicks has not been able to do at any point this season.