Will Defense Be A Strength Or Liability For The Yankees This Season?

Using traditional statistical categories, as well as Statcast's new defensive metric, read for how the Yankees defense ranks heading into this season

No matter what big-league team you root for, there's no denying that the Yankees have one of the best offensive units in baseball. But where do they rank among the league's best on defense?

Errors and fielding percentage are simple statistical categories that show if defense is a player's strength or weakness – and we'll get to that here – but why not utilize the game's latest analytical approach as well.

This past season, the Yankees had a total of 5,778 chances on defense – determined by adding putouts, assists and errors together. Interestingly enough, 5,778 chances was the second-lowest amount of opportunities on the defensive end among all Major League teams. Only the Indians had less chances on defense (New York's pitchers had the fourth-most strikeouts in all of baseball, so that impacted their lesser total of opportunities).

Getting a little more specific now, the Bombers committed 102 errors and posted a team fielding percentage of .982 in 2019, per Baseball Reference (both ranked 21st in baseball). In recent history, the Yankees have hovered around the league average (which was .984 last season) – defenders in pinstripes haven't had a fielding percentage better than the average since 2016.

If you're curious, the St. Louis Cardinals were the best in both of those categories, with a spectacular rate of .989 percent with just 66 errors.

Now, let's sprinkle in some analytics, shall we?

This offseason, the Statcast defensive metric that was once limited to measuring outfielders extended to those in the infield as well. It's called Outs Above Average (OAA), cumulatively measuring how each individual defender performs on a range of plays (from routine to low probability). It's a complex metric, but just like WAR, it's simple to understand at the most basic level once you get the hang of it.

The way to accumulate OAA is by making all types of plays, factoring in everything from how fast the base runner is and the distance away from the base the fielder is trying to get the ball to. The example Statcast used on the OAA page is when a fielder makes a play with a 25% Out Probability, they get +.75 added, while one who fails to make the same play subtracts -.25.

To put it into perspective before mentioning those on the Yanks, the best individual defender in the infield in 2019 was Javier Baez of the Cubs (+19 OAA). The worse was Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (-16). 

Now you're ready.

In the outfield, New York was among the top half of the league with +3 outs above average (11th best among all big-league teams). In the infield, however, the Bombers struggled mightily. The Yankees finished with the third-worst tally within this metric (-18), higher than just the Orioles and Padres respectively. The aforementioned Cardinals earned the top spot in the infield with a staggering total of 42 outs above average.

So, not only are the Yankees toward the bottom of the league in preventing errors committed, but when examining their performance through this lens, it shows they also aren't adding outs on average on tougher plays.

Individually, there were some bright spots. Mike Tauchman (+9) and Aaron Judge (+8) were both among the top 14 outfielders in this category – Washington's Victor Robles was the best in baseball, posting a +23 OAA.

The only player on the Yankees to have a positive OAA in the infield in 2019 was DJ LeMahieu (+6, ranked 23rd in baseball) – that makes his ability to play multiple positions even more impressive. After LeMahieu, Gio Urshela ranks at 75th with zero outs above average – then you'll have to scroll down on the list until No. 129 to find Gleyber Torres (-7).

The positives here are that those three players can settle into full-time defensive rolls as soon as position players report to Spring Training next week. After Didi Gregorius' departure this offseason, LeMahieu and Torres are poised to play second base and shortstop respectively, barring injury of course. Meanwhile, Urshela has a competition at third base with Miguel Andújar – who was spotted taking fly balls in the outfield a few days ago – to influence further defensive improvements. 

Even if Gregorius was a fan favorite in the Bronx, and improved his defensive capabilities over the years after taking over for Derek Jeter, he finished 2019 with the third-worst OAA total (-13) in the game. Therefore, the Yankees will get some addition by subtraction in the infield in 2020.

New York still has some questions in the field to address – including how Giancarlo Stanton will be used, if Gary Sánchez can stay healthy and continue to improve on his skills behind the dish, as well as what defensive output they'll receive from slugger Luke Voit at first base. 

But hey, that's what Spring Training is for. 

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