The New York Yankees enter the 2023 season looking to get over the postseason hump. New York has advanced to the playoffs in six straight years- and six straight years they've been eliminated without reaching the World Series. In order to take that next step, the Yankees will need bounce back seasons from certain players (looking at you, Aaron Hicks.)
Whether it's due to injury or ineffectiveness, the Bronx Bombers need certain players to perform more like the back of their baseball cards in 2023.
So, who needs to play better this year?
Without further ado, let's get to it and discuss which Yankees are occupying a slightly hotter seat in the dugout heading into the 2023 season.
Yankees Who Need Bounce-Back Seasons In 2023
4. Yankees IF Josh Donaldson
Ahh, the much-maligned Josh Donaldson. Donaldson, a former American League MVP back in 2016 with the Toronto Blue Jays, certainly didn't look like it in 2022.
After arriving via a trade with the Minnestoa Twins, the 36-year-old Donaldson played fine defense for the Yankees.
However, he was too often a black hole on offense, as evidenced by his .682 regular season OPS. But his regular season performance was at least passable.
In the postseason, Josh Donaldson was ghastly, batting .077 with 10 strikeouts in 16 plate appearances against the Houston Astros in the ALCS.
Strike out a few teams in a Sunday matinee game against the Baltimore Orioles in May and the Yankee faithful will (likely) forget it soon enough.
Look completely overmatched at the dish and strike out nearly every time you step up to the plate in the biggest games of the year and Yankees fans will never forget it.
Josh Donaldson needs a bounce back-year in 2023- especially if the Yankees are playing in October.
3. NY OF Aaron Hicks
Aaron Hicks at number three? Are you kidding me??
Hear me out.
Hicks, who posted a .642 OPS in 130 games last year, was a shell of himself at the plate, hitting rock bottom with an abysmal May that saw him go down by way of the strikeout 24 times in 83 trips to the plate.
The boo birds rained down on Hicks. The sports radio calls grew increasingly more hostile.
The only reason he wasn't completely ran out of town by the Bleacher Creatures is because they were too busy doing the same exact thing to Joey Gallo.
But as bad as Hicks was, the Yankees still managed to maintain a historic win pace for much of the first half of the season- and finish with 99 victories.
Is a Hicks bounce-back important? You bet. The Yankees owe Hicks $30.5 million through the 2025 season, so they clearly need him to look more like the 2017 and 2018 versions of himself.
Will Hicks make-or-break the Yankees' 2023 season? No.
There are more important players who could use bounce-back years this season. More on that in a moment.
2. Yankees SP Luis Severino
Luis Severino, once viewed as the Yankees' ace of the future, now slots in behind the likes of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and everyone's favorite mustachioed southpaw, Nestor Cortes.
It's not exactly Severino's fault, though.
The two-time All-Star became a full-time starter in 2017 and averaged these numbers in that year and in 2018: 16 wins, 3.18 ERA, 192 innings pitched, 225 strikeouts.
Ace. Horse. Electric.
Those are words that got thrown around when discussing Luis Severino in those days.
Can anyone blame the Yankees for agreeing to a four-year, $40 million contract extension with Severino back in 2019?
But since inking that deal, Severino has pitched just 120 innings in four years, missing much of the 2019 season with latissimus and shoulder injuries, which the Yankees acknowledged they mishandled.
Then, Severino missed all of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and most of the 2021 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Severino missed time due to a lat strain in 2022- and he wasn't happy with the Yankees for transferring him to the 60-daty Injured List last August. (Can't say I blame the Yankees for taking the cautious route).
Still, 2022 was the healthiest Severino has been in quite some time- and it showed.
He went 7-3 with a 3.18 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 102 innings.
That's the kind of impact the Yankees need from Luis Severino in 2023- and not just for parts of the season. The whole year.
Because here's the reality.
A rotation with Cole and Rodon having strong years is enough to get the Yankees to the precipice of the American League mountaintop once again in 2023.
A rotation with Cole-Rodon and a Severino who resembles the man from 2017-18 is enough to power the Yankees to their first World Series title since 2009.
1. NY IF DJ LeMahieu
It's hard to think of a single Yankees player whose return to form in 2023 could have a bigger impact on the team than The Machine, DJ LeMahieu.
LeMahieu arrived in New York before the 2019 season on a two-year contract.
Onje of the quietest moves of that offseason quickly looked like one of the best, as the injury-riddled Yankees benefited from full-time play of LeMahieu, who hit .327 with 36 home runs and 102 RBI, looking like an MVP-caliber player.
Then, he did it again in the pandemic-shortened season, batting a scorching .364 with a .421 On-Base-Percentage, proving to be one of the better table-setters in the league.
That play earned him a six-year, $90 million contract from New York.
But he hasn't quite lived up to the money since, averaging a .265/.353./.368 slash line with 11 home runs, 52 RBI and 79 runs scored.
However, LeMahieu, tough as nails, was playing through injury in both seasons.
Not wanting to hear the disapproval of the Bronx faithful, The Machine played through a sports hernia injury, an ailment that required offseason surgery, in 2021.
In 2022, he played through a nagging toe injury that forced him to miss the ALCS against the Astros.
But LeMahieu is now fully healthy at Spring Training.
It's an exciting development for Yankees fans, though it also means that there are no more excuses for LeMahieu.
He will need to look like the player the Yankees paid for back in January of 2021.
If he doesn't, fans will turn on him, much like they did with Hicks.
If he does, this Yankees team will be a whole lot scarier.
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