I’ve been hearing a lot of rumbling from some folks about the lack of offense during Spring Training. Folks, it’s only Spring Training. What’s more, it’s early in Spring Training. If you’re thinking you’ll be seeing this much of Ramiro Pena come the regular season, then you are probably a lost cause. Of course, if you also think this is really a preview of things to come, then I suppose we should fit Ivan Nova for a Cy Young trophy now, as he’d have the most incredible season in history. For that matter, unheralded Jorge Vazquez would slam 72 homers (career high in MiLB: 33, 5 years ago). In other words, you can’t place any faith in Spring Training statistics. Guys don’t play complete games, the level of competition is all over the place and both managers and players are trying different things to see how they work. But in case you’re the type who does place a misguided faith in the numbers, consider this: so far, the nine guys who comprise the Yankee’s starting line-up have accounted for just 39% of the team’s plate appearances this spring. As a group they’ve combined for an .282 batting average and slugged their way to an .831 OPS. That is otherworldly production. Here’s the breakdown:
I’ll take this level of production over 162 games, along with Nova’s Cy Young. :)