Fans have been trashing the Yankees of late, as they are currently below .500 and mired in their worst two-month stretch in over 30 years.
On Wednesday, a former Yankee minor leaguer got in on the bashing, ripping the Yankee organization for their methods in the minors, claiming the team philosophy was too focused on analytics.
During the latest episode of Foul Territory, Ben Ruta commented during the livestream, predicting that the team will soon clean house to rid the current regime of their analytics-driven ways, while calling out a particular training method the team used as “dumb.”
“Here’s all you need to know,” Ruta commented, as read on the podcast by host Scott Braun. “In 2020, before COVID hit, spring training we played a game called ‘pitchers vs hitters.’ The only way to score a point was to walk or hit a ball 95 mph-plus. There’s no baseball being taught there anymore. No baserunning, moving runners, fundamentals, etc.”
Ruta also noted that hitting tees were banned, and the focus was on exit velocity.
Ruta was a part of the organization from 2016-2020, as a 30th round pick out of Wagner College. The New Jersey native believes the Yanks will eventually “change developmental culture back to old Yankees days.”
“I do believe there is a place in the game for analytics,” Ruta posted on social media after his comments on the podcast started to make waves. “It needs to be a healthy mix. It’s not a knock on the coaches they have. They were doing exactly what they were hired to do. The strategy of running an org like this is just dumb.”
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