Going into Wednesday's game against the New York Mets, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone put JD Davis in the lineup at DH while putting DJ LeMahieu at first base and having rookie Ben Rice on the bench. Many Yankees fans have questioned Boone's decision to not have Rice in the starting lineup in the two games against the Mets, and he went into that, specifically in relation to JD Davis.
“The reality is, we brought JD Davis in – especially when Rizz went down – to be this kind of [contributor],” Aaron Boone said, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
The Yankees brought in Davis in a trade with the Oakland Athletics. They acquired him after the Athletics had designated him for assignment. The hope for Davis, with Rizzo going down due to an injury, was to potentially fill in at first base, maybe as a platoon with Ben Rice, or as a full-time player. Rice has taken up most of the playing time since then. Boone elaborated on that dynamic.
“Not necessarily,” Boone said when asked if he plans to platoon Rice and Davis, via Hoch. “We'll see what happens here over the next week.”
Yankees struggling mightily vs left-handed pitching in 2024
The Mets are throwing two lefty starting pitchers against the Yankees this series in Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea. The Bombers have struggled against left-handed pitching this year, having a team OPS of .695 against lefties in comparison to a .779 OPS against right-handed pitchers, according to ESPN.
It is an interesting phenomenon, because the 2023 Yankees were better against lefties, with a .777 OPS against them and a .683 OPS against righties, according to ESPN. It is possible that acquisitions of players like Alex Verdugo could be contributing to the drastic change from 2023.
Due to the struggles against left-handed pitching, Boone has thrown a lot of different lineups against those types of starting pitchers this season. For example with Tuesday night's game against the Mets, Jahmai Jones was leading off because he has good numbers against lefties this year, while Davis was cleaning up and playing first base for similar reasons. Carlos Narvaez also was in the lineup as opposed to a lefty hitter in Austin Wells.
When the Mets went to the bullpen, Boone immediately pinch hit Trent Grisham for Jones, Rice for Davis, and Wells for Narvaez.
The good news is that the Yankees have a chance to mitigate this problem at the MLB Trade Deadline, which is on Tuesday, July 30 at 6 p.m. ET. Brian Cashman likely will not be able to completely fix this flaw, but a few additions could go a long way toward making the Yankees the team to beat in what is a wide-open American League.
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