The Yankees’ sputtering offense, which is now tied for the fourth-worst in all of baseball at 3.74 runs per game, has taken its toll on hitting coach Marcus Thames, who is trying to stay positive amid the Bombers’ four-game losing streak, which has included four games of scoring two runs or less.
“I don’t sleep,” Thames said. “Look at these bags under my eyes.”
Thames feels like he’s struggling through every at-bat with the Yankee lineup, which has now let their deficit in the AL East slip to 5.5 games after another loss to the Rays on Monday, where a Miguel Andujar home run was the only source of offense. So far this season, one of the biggest surprises in all of baseball has been the Yanks’ most notable strength suddenly becoming a glaring weakness.
“It needs to turn around,” Thames said. “It hasn’t been pretty at all. That’s the big elephant in the room everywhere, the offense, the offense, the offense. I know that, PJ knows that and the players know that. They care, and they’re working their tails off to try and turn this thing around.”
One of the players that is in need of a turnaround is Gleyber Torres, who has been a league-average hitter since the start of the 2020 season following two straight All-Star campaigns in 2018 and 2019. Torres was expected to be one of the team’s best bats this season, but so far, his power numbers have been nonexistent, as the shortstop has just two home runs and a .331 slugging percentage in 166 at-bats.
“There have been some mechanical things that we’ve been looking at and he’s trying to get that fixed,” Thames said of Torres. “He’s working hard at it. He’s just gotta trust it once he gets in the game. In the cages and batting practice, it plays, but once we get in the game, when the team is struggling, guys try to do a little too much.”
Thames feels like he sees something similar from DJ LeMahieu, who has watched his batting average dip nearly 100 points below his league-best mark of .364 last season. LeMahieu, also expected to be a crucial bat for the Bombers in 2021, has been merely average and hasn’t set the tone at the top of the lineup.
“When he goes, we go,” Thames said. “His numbers are decent, but they’re not DJ LeMahieu numbers right now…he’s starting to expand a little bit. I think that comes with the overall offense struggling. He’s trying to put the team on his back instead of just being himself.”
The Yankees rotation and bullpen have kept the team above .500, but it will be tough to sustain if the bats don’t come around. The lineup has years of proof that it’s capable of being one of the best in baseball, and that reality makes the current situation even more frustrating. Thames can only hope the work they’ve put in behind the scenes translates to the field, where right now, things look bleak.
“I told the guys the other day, some days it doesn’t look like they’re having fun,” Thames said. “But they gotta have fun and let the game slow down and we’ll get back to where we need to be.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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