Why Do The Yankees Take Fastballs?
Why Do The Yankees Take Fastballs?
After the end of an unfortunate series with the Rays, the Yankees sit second to last in fastballs seen, just forty-five percent of the time. The pitchers have decided to work away from the fastball and are seeing breaking balls and off-speed pitches late in the count. However, that hasn't affected sports wagers on New Hampshire betting sites, as punters have continued wagering on different outcomes. The city has officially legalized sports betting in July 2019.
The classic approach to hitting is seeking fastballs early and adjusting as you get deeper in the count, protecting the zone against breaking and off-speed pitches. The playoff narrative that says once a pitcher gets a favorable count, the move is to huck breakers until one reaches a swing, and a miss did not seem to work this year.
The Yankees have an increase in the number of fastballs they see when they're behind in the court. When the Yankees played against the Blue Jays, both games had at-bats and in-bats. LeMahieu started with a fastball against Robbie Ray and a strike facing Hyun Jin Ryu is a ball.
DJ's behind in count one and ahead in the other. In this case, we'd expect a breaker from Ray and a fastball from Ryu, but the opposite happens. LeMahieu fouls away a slider playing against Ray and fouls off a cutter from Ryu. Ryu's cutter is a clean strike in the zone the whole way to the plate, and DJ is caught hesitant.
Gio Ursehla, who is perceived to be more contact-heavy, had a strikeout against Rafael Dolis on opening day. He fouls through the first pitch and takes a sinker to set the count at 1-1. He fouls off the slider to fall behind like LeMahieu against Ryu when he realizes it's a fastball and is going up in the end zone, except it's too late to do anything about it.
Gio and LeMahieu have good bat control and contact skills, yet they cannot adjust to pitches they don't expect. Clint Frazier, who has legendary bat speed, would most capably adjust to a fastball he wasn't expecting. The quicker the bat, the longer you can wait on any given pitch to decide whether to swing or not. Unfortunately, Clint Frazier has been called out on five fastballs for strike three, the most on the team. The worst is Dean Kremer's fastball, which is closer to the bottom of the four-seam spin leader board than the top, and Frazier still couldn't pull through.
The Yankees could stand to be more aggressive. They prioritize working in the count and seeing lots of pitches, a strategy that has paid off over the past few seasons. They're not seeing fastballs at the moment, and when they do, it's catching them off guard. They have a deep lineup which means it's unlikely to get more fastballs, so they have to adjust better than they have so far.
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