“It’s been a fun year, but hopefully the fun is just starting.”
The words of AL (and MLB) home run leader Luke Voit, who joined Joe & Evan on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the Yankees’ march towards the playoffs and World Series title No. 28.
Voit has been a big part of that, playing a team-high 51 games and hitting a league-high 21 homers so far, but much like teammate DJ LeMahieu said about the batting title, Luke isn’t looking at individual accolades as a success story this year.
“I appreciate the acknowledgement, but I’m worried about getting home field advantage in the first round. I’m worried about tonight with Robbie Ray, then the next five games, and eventually winning No. 28,” Voit said. “We needed guys to step up this year, and I knew I needed to do that, but the only accolade I’m worried about is winning that big trophy.”
And he doubled down on that when asked about the MVP race, instead choosing to focus on how great LeMahieu, who currently leads the AL and MLB in batting average, has been.
“I have to give DJ a lot of credit, he’s hitting like .597 right now (editor’s note: actually .356); it’s unbelievable how much he gets on base, and he’s a Gold Glover on defense,” Voit said. “It’s like if you’re hitting behind him with two outs, you better be ready to hit, because he’s probably getting on base. He’s the best hitter I’ve ever seen, honestly; pitches up or down, inside or outside – he doesn’t get schooled, and if he does, you’re shocked.”
Voit hit behind LeMahieu a lot when Aaron Judge was out, and has flip-flopped between second and cleanup depending on which slugger (Judge or Giancarlo Stanton) has had the day off. He doesn’t care where he hits, though, because he knows what he, and the team, are capable of.
“I’ve hit everywhere in the lineup, it doesn’t bother me. We have a lot of All-Star caliber players, literally 1-9, and it’s a pretty scary lineup that’s been clicking lately,” Voit said. “Me, I’m finally healthy. I don’t think I realized how bad my injury was and how much it affected me last year, but now that I got surgery and got all fixed up, I feel fantastic. My upper body and lower body are connected.”
The goal is of course No. 28, but the Yankees may not face anyone in the postseason that they have faced during the regular season, which is where Voit hopes the analytics team comes into play.
“That’s where we’re going to have to rely on video from last year, and veteran players,” he said. “We have to use our analytical team and get the best scouting reports on all of these guys. I know all three AL Central teams have really good starters, so we have to do our homework – but they will, too.”
And if they face the Rays, whom they are 2-8 against this year and have a budding heated rivalry with?
“Strong” was the only word Voit would say about the two teams’ disdain for each other, but he did not that the rivalry “brings a little fire to the table. I think they get up a little more for us – we don’t really treat it any differently, but they’ve been tough on us this year. It’s been a fun rivalry and it would be fun to play them again.”
They team has overcome adversity in spades this year, so whatever comes their way, the Yankees are ready.
“I’m glad we went through that, because I don’t think a lot of great teams haven’t gone through adversity like that,” he said. “We couldn’t get anything to go our way, but that’s part of it – you just have to keep playing the game. It’s frustrating, but I think it just made us mentally stronger.”
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