The Yankees currently have arguably the most potent lineup in all of baseball, and it’s hard not to look at them as a pitcher’s worst nightmare.
With the acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton, who will likely hit behind Aaron Judge, pitchers had better make sure they don’t let guys get on base beforehand, or those guys will make them pay with two and three-run homers.
Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz — who is known for his home-run hitting prowess — was recently asked about what he thinks about the Yankees lineup. While he gave them credit for how they look on paper, Big Papi was a bit critical about their strikeouts and occasional inability to put the ball in play.
“They are very powerful. That’s one thing that I can tell you right now. They have tremendous power,” Ortiz said, according to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “But I still — there’s one thing that me and Manny accomplished as a hitter, and we wasn’t just power hitters. We were guys capable of hitting for average, putting the ball in play, getting on base. It was a lot of things that when we combined, not for one or two years, we did it for a lot of years.”
He continued:
“I think these two guys, they have the talent to get there, cut down strikeouts, put the ball more in play. I know that right now, with the plane thing, for the swing they’re trying to put the ball more in the air is something that’s going to create more strikeouts, especially for power hitters.”
That’s funny that Ortiz commented about putting the ball in play — something he really wasn’t all that great at doing during various points in his career.
And sure, it’s no surprise that he didn’t heap praise onto the Yankees. We know where his allegiance lies.
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