Once upon a time…seeing Jeter up with men on base and the game on the line was something we would all relish. These days most Yankees fans including myself, shudder when El Capitan is up in those situations. If it’s less then 2 outs, my initial thought isn’t, “ok here comes a line drive single to RF”, instead it’s, “please don’t GIDP and kill the rally” (e.g. Friday night vs. TB). The usual outcome is a weak groundball to SS or 2B that’s hit so softly the opposition doesn’t turn the DP. Jeter’s overall numbers this season, by normal SS standards are not terrible (.269AVG/.334OBP/.384SLG/.718OPS/1.7WAR), but a closer look at his monthly splits (see table below) demonstrates an alarming trend.
Split AB R H HR RBI BB BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP
April 94 14 31 4 18 3 .330 .354 .521 .875 .325
May 128 18 36 1 13 9 .281 .343 .359 .702 .337
June 103 18 25 3 8 15 .243 .339 .379 .718 .268
July 45 10 8 0 4 6 .178 .275 .200 .475 .205
Since May 1st, Jeter’s numbers have dropped across the board, including hitting only .250 AVG with 4 HR (the same amount of HR he hit in April alone). Some may point to his career low .298 BABIP this season (career .357 BABIP) and hope it’s an indicator that Derek has been unlucky and things will turn around, I disagree. Using FanGraphs, you can see Jeter’s groundball % (GB%) this season is a career high 66.3% (career GB% = 56.6%) and his line drive % (LD%) is at an all-time low of 17.3% ( career LD% = 20.5%). So all those weak ground ball outs are not a perception, it’s a reality and a major contributor to his decreasing BABIP.
Hopefully Jeter’s 2 hits and SB today is a sign of improved play for the remaining 2.5 months of the season, however I remain skeptical. Are we seeing the beginning of the end of Jeter as a top level SS? Will he turn it around and start playing like the 2009/April 2010 version or continue his downward trend since early May? I say the best we can hope for is something in between. What do you think?
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M. B. Rozell
Kevin Rozell
I think Eduardo Nunez is untouchable as a trade piece!
I always say that by the end of the season we’ll be seeing the same Jeter numbers that we always do. But it does worry me. I miss those doubles in the right center field alley.
Look at the bright side… Jeter isnt being himself thus far and we still have the best record in baseball. Who knows what we can do if our pitchers can stay healthy and he goes back to being the catalyst we all know and love.
IS Jeter declining? Sure – he is 36, and father time waits for no one. It’s inevitable that his bat speed will start to slow down as he ages and with his type of swing, that will produce more ground balls. The good news is he can make up for some of that by cheating a bit with his swing – the same way another HOF hitter with similar characteristics did late in his career – Rod Carew. Joe Girardi’s biggest challenge may be convincing Jeter to take a blow once in a while – if anything, the decline since May is indicative of an older player who needs to rest more.
Is he no longer a top-flight offensive shortstop? After Hanley Ramirez, there really aren’t any top-flight offensive shortstops any more. Jeter’s numbers more than compare favorably with guys like Jason Bartlett, Marco Scutaro, et al. He is still a very good player and one of the top 5 shortstops in the game. We’ve simply been spoiled by the previous 15 1/2 seasons.
Yes, but looking at Jeter through the prism of Bartlett and Scutaro shows the steep decline from last year and the rest of his career. Those guys aren’t making $22M this year either. I’m not saying he’s done, but his performance this season thus far, has been a sharp decline from last season. In the post above I didn’t mention it, but Jeter also no longer works the count and has the highest first pitch swing % off all lead off hitters in baseball. Trust me I hope he turns it around, but there are many troubling signs that can’t be ignored.
Mauer and Jetes were the two MVP candidates last season, imo. It is not uncommon for a tail off the following year. Even if Jetes doesn’t right the ship in 2010, he still has the work ethic and athleticism to return in 2011 with another stellar season.
He’s stubborn. He should know enough by now to correct his mistakes. One of them, as pointed out above, is his sudden impatience at the plate. Another one is his insistence on going to right field. I noticed last year that whenever he went into a mini slump he would start pulling the ball. Bam, end of slump. If pitchers know he always wants to go to right they’ll pitch him inside, and voila! Fisted ground balls to second. Come on, Jeetz, if I can see this, why can’t you!?!?!
btw, Mauer ain’t exactly burnin’ up the sacks either this year. Worse numbers than Jeter except for average. Of course he should be blowin’ by Jeter by early August. Still, if I were him I’d lay off the fishing trips to Cabo.
Jeter is a fraud. He gets a ton of cheap hits. I was never impressed with him. No range and weak tappers nmormally lead to a position change, the bench and/or not being resigned. But not with this prima donna. He’l probably get a raise. Who does he have nude pics of?