Amid prospect craze, don’t forget about Didi
TAMPA — When you play on the same team as Aaron Judge, you aren’t going to win too many home run derbies.
“I have a regular swing,” Didi Gregorius said late Friday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “Judge has the power.”
Judge dented the scoreboard in his second at-bat, slamming a mammoth home run off Elniery Garcia as the Yankees won their Grapefruit League opener, 9-4 over the Phillies. Good lord, is he strong. For an opening act, though, Gregorius proved pretty solid. Batting second, the shortstop ripped the first offering of the spring, from Philadelphia’s Alec Asher, over everything in right-center field — including the ballpark’s new cabanas — for a solo blast onto Dale Mabry Highway.
With The George launching its renovation, Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner had to be thrilled with his desired youth infusion displaying immediate promise. In addition to Judge’s tapemeasure shot, Kyle Higashioka (home run), Miguel Andujar (double and triple) and Clint Frazier (two-run triple) contributed to the barrage.
Nevertheless, this glistening farm system, ranked second overall (behind only the Braves) by Baseball America on Friday, should not overshadow the fact that, in Gregorius, the Yankees already have a quality young shortstop. One who has advanced considerably during his first two seasons here and who might possess even more room for growth.
“I’m not satisfied with last year,” Gregorius said. “So I’ll always try to make an adjustment, try to get better.”
“I can’t say that he’ll hit 20 [homers],” manager Joe Girardi said of Gregorius. “There’s always some things that have to go right. But there’s definitely power in there when you watch Didi play. It came out last year. … I think that he can come close to that, repeat it and maybe even hit a few more.”
Gregorius’ 20 homers in 2016 more than doubled his previous peak — nine, in 2015 — which is why the projection systems all have him scaling back to the 15to-18 range. He put the ball in the air more last year: 40.3 percent of his batted balls were fly balls, according to FanGraphs, compared to 34.1 percent in 2015, and when he did so, the ball was more likely to leave the park. His 10.4 percent fly ball-perhomer rate marked his career best.
It makes statistical sense to expect regression. Except Gregorius just turned 27 on Feb. 18 (he’s only about two months older than Higashioka, who has yet to play in the majors) and his rip on Friday exemplified his power. He appears more muscular than in the past.
“It looks like I’m bigger, but I have the same weight — 210, 215,” he said, confirming his redistribution.
Soon, more room will exist on the pinstriped stage for the youngsters, as Gregorius will be departing Yankees camp on Tuesday to join Team Netherlands for its Arizona training before taking off for Seoul, South Korea, and the World Baseball Classic’s opening round. The Yankees, of course, secretly will root for a quick elimination so Gregorius doesn’t wear himself out — especially with the travel — in games that don’t matter.
At least he’ll depart having left a positive memory and a teaser for what might be.
“I’m just going out there to play the game,” Gregorius said. “If I hit 10 [homers], if I hit one … I’m just going to hit line drives. I’m not going to consider myself a power hitter. If they go out, they go out.”
In this golden age of shortstops, with Houston’s Carlos Correa and Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor also working in the American League, Gregorius won’t necessarily be the best of his bunch. If he can be quite good, though, and if enough of these young guys can join him as a supporting cast? The Yankees will put themselves in position to win that late October/early Novem
ber derby that matters most.