In 2024 the Yankees had two big boppers: home grown Aaron Judge and one year turn coat Juan Soto, who went to the Mets as a free agent.
Goodbye, Soto. Goodbye, Soto. Goodbye, Soto, we "hate" to see you go (to the Mets). Monday, December 9, 2024
Data derived from https://www.baseball-reference.com/
OPS+ (On Base Average Plus Slugging Average adjusted for parks and year):
https://www.baseball-reference.com/about/bat_glossary.shtml
Using these adjusted values compute what the league average player would have hit lgOBP*, lgSLG* in a park.
Take OPS+ = 100 * (OBP/lgOBP* + SLG/lgSLG* - 1)
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The 2024 Yanks led the American League (AL) in runs per game with 5.03. AL average was 4.27. Chicago White had the lowest average at 3.13.
The Yankees did not have a balanced lineup. Judge and Soto were way ahead of their teammates and four of the nine hitting positions (including Designated Hitter: DH) were below league average 100 in OPS+.
Does that mean that double big boppers are better than a balanced lineup? This post is anecdotal, not statistical. But the Yankees have had other big twosomes, including the ultimate: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. So it might be fun to cruise through some Yankee data.
Here's a matrix of the Yankee teams we'll look at:
All six got to the World Series. Only the 2024 Yankees lost. Two of the other five had balanced lineups, the other three had big bopper duos. Can you name them?
The only fielding positions that had an above league average hitter (100) on all six teams were catcher and right field.
In the matrix, Yankees who also led the AL in OPS+ have their number in a box with a sharper border.
OK, let's see who was who. The players shown are those who played the most at that fielding position. Nine batters for DH seasons, otherwise 8 batters.
Here are the top two in each of these six seasons (AL leader in bold):
I had picked 1936 to pair the still great Gehrig with rookie DiMaggio but Joe was fourth behind Gehrig, Dickey and Selkirk. Gehrig had done the triple crown in 1934, Ruth's last Yankee season, and matched his home run high of 49.
Dickey was comparable to Yogi Berra but is largely forgotten. Ruth is still Ruth and Gehrig is "seen" occasionally in the 1942 movie Pride of the Yankees staring 41 year old Gary Cooper as Gehrig. Ruth and Dickey appeared in the movie as themselves. But both Mantle and DiMaggio died in the previous millennium and don't have relevance today. Mantle is portrayed in the 2001 cable TV movie 61* but it's hardly shown any more.
Clearly the most dominant pair among these six are the originals Ruth and Gehrig. Gehrig's 220 OPS+ in 1927 is the second highest non leader of all time. Mantle had 221 in 1957 but was second to Ted Williams 233:
For single seasons, since 1903, Playing in the AL or NL, Qualified for league batting title, in the regular season, requiring Adjusted OPS+ >= 219, sorted by descending Adjusted OPS+.
https://stathead.com/tiny/NGC2U
Jeter is on both the most recent Yankee World Series winner in 2009 and the 114 game winning 1998 team. At ages 35 and 24 Jeter had OPS+ 125 and 127.
Top 10 OPS+ in AL:
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