Don't Look Now, But New Yankees Hitting Coach Is Doing What We Asked!

After YEARS of seeing and hearing things I didn’t like from former hitting coaches, I’m finally hearing something good. But now, will it translate into the regular season?

In case you missed it, Greg Joyce had a good write up last week about how the Yankee offense has stacked up in recent years, check it out HERE. We’ve all felt that the Yankees have not met expectations for a long time. It’s one thing to talk about not winning a championship since 2009, but how about an offense that has been in a steady decline since 2019.

The Yankees have hired all of these analytically driven “experts” for years who know nothing about baseball. We’ve heard about exit velocity and launch angles for years and it’s done nothing good for this team. But now, James Rowson is trying to change that.

That will be an uphill battle, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Reading this article, you really think this is back to basics and that MLB players should know how to hit but the Yankees have done everything they can to brainwash their players and ruin all baseball fundamentals. That’s where we are at.

But now Rowson is trying to fix it. He’s implemented the art of situational hitting early in spring training. We need guys like Anthony Volpe who is young and impressionable to think about their at bat when there’s guys on first and third with one out. Or what about the scenario of guys on second and third with two outs? The Yankees need to get back to these basics so they can execute when the games really count starting next month.

This is definitely the place to start. If Rowson can make tweaks and improve veteran guys like Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu, and help the rest of the lineup be consistent this team will be on the right track. It’s a long way to go though. This won’t be easy but, Rowson has the right idea. It’s taken a long time for the Yankees to underachieve offensively, so it’s going to take time to turn this around. The Yankees finally have a vision! Now….can they execute?

I’m cautiously optimistic, because at least we aren’t hearing more of the same analytical nonsense. I’ve said the Yankees need to get back to fundamental baseball. I will admit I wasn’t sold on our new hitting coach when we signed him……but if he does this and it fixes the Yankees, I will gladly eat crow.

–Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa