Didi cleaning up like the Captain never did
NO, DIDI Gregorius isn’t Derek Jeter quite yet, which naturally says far more about the Captain’s alltime greatness than anything his superb successor is doing wrong.
Yet Sir Didi joined the man who hopes to own the Marlins in one meaningful way Sunday — hitting his 24th homer of the season, tying Jeter’s franchise record for shortstops — and he finds himself in line to trump his predecessor in one buzzworthy way:
Jeter never hit cleanup in a postseason game. And right now, your best bet to bat fourth in the Yankees’ next playoff game, projected to be Oct. 3 against the Twins at Yankee Stadium in the oneand done American League wild-card game, is the man who joined the Yankees for his age-25 season with 13 career home runs. “He’s just been consistent there,” Joe Girardi said of Gregorius hitting cleanup, after the Yankees dropped a 6-4 game to the Orioles on Sunday afternoon at the Stadium. “It really splits up our left-handers, which makes it harder to navigate our lineup because the guys that are around him hit left-handers really well. Left-handers don’t seem to bother Didi, but it’s just kind of worked out well.” “Nothing has changed. Same approach. Same everything,” Gregorius said of batting fourth. “I’m just trying to be the same guy since the day I got here.”
Sunday’s inability to complete a four-game sweep of Baltimore, the byproduct of Sonny Gray’s worst start as a Yankee and 10 strikeouts in five innings by beleaguered Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez, kept the Yankees three games behind the Red Sox (who lost at Tampa Bay) in the American League East and allowed the Twins (who beat the Blue Jays) to shave the Yankees’ AL wild-card lead to four games. The Twins arrive in The Bronx today in what could wind up as a three-game wild-card preview.
Agai ns t Minnesota a ce Ervin Santana, a good candidate to start the postseason’s kickoff — Tuesday night’s starter Jose Berrios is the Twins’ other desired possibility — expect Gregorius to bat cleanup for the 16th time in his last 17 starts.
Hitting fourth doesn’t carry the majesty it once did, thanks to those blasted analytics con- vincing teams to place their best hitters second and third. That’s what the Yankees tried Sunday with Aaron Judge second and Gary Sanchez third, and that decision delivered quite the ninth-inning pickle to Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who reacted to a runner-on-second, two-outs situation by intentionally walking Judge and bringing the potential winning run in Sanchez to the plate. The gamble paid off when Baltimore closer Zach Britton struck out Sanchez to end the game.
Gregorius watched Sanchez’s whiff from the on-deck circle. He already had contributed with his second-inning, solo home run to right off Jimenez, which momentarily tied the score at 1-1.
“Didi’s had a great year,” Girardi said. “He’s had a great month of September as well, and he’s playing at an extremely high level. It’s a pretty big name to tie.”
“I’m just trying to play the game,” said Gregorius, who has 19 RBIs in 16 September games, his personal best tally in a month. “I’m not worried about the careers or something that’s out there, the records. I’m just going to try to play the game, try to be the best player out there, try to help my team. I don’t really worry about the stats.”
He’s playing the game quite well, although a comparison to Jeter provides a sobering reminder of how good Jeter was at his peak. That 1999 season, at age 25, proved to be the best of Jeter’s career. He compiled a ridiculous .349/.438/. 552 slash line, all career bests. If he can’t match Gregorius’ delightful defense, his epic offense made him more valuable overall.
Jeter started one regularseason game at cleanup, on July 10, 1999, against the Mets at Shea Stadium. He went 0-for-4 with a walk in what’s best remembered as “the Matt Franco game.”
After Sunday, Gregorius has a .269/.323/.538 slash line in 31 games hitting fourth this year. If that isn’t Hall of Fame caliber, it’s plenty good to make the Yankees optimistic about Oct. 3 and beyond.