Is Derek Jeter hurting the Yankees?

We have heard it a lot lately. Is Derek Jeter past his prime? Will he be able to recapture the form that only two years ago had him hitting over .300? The answers are simple. Yes, and no. Derek Jeter is a Yankee icon. Winning World Championships in New York will do that, ask Mark Messier. The past two seasons, however, have been somewhat new for Derek Jeter as he adjusts to, well as he adjusts to his age. Jeter is now 37 years old and has become the focus of a lot of debate throughout the baseball world. Can he bounce back? History says no. Age is generally not kind to middle infielders of Jeter's age. Just two years ago, Jeter put up outstanding numbers, hitting .334 with 18 home runs, 66 RBI's, and 30 stolen bases. Last season Jeter began his decline. He hit just .270 with 10 homers. He did, however, hit 2 more triples (3) and 3 more doubles (30) but his 179 hits were down from 212. This year, Jeter has been off to an even worse start. He looks more like Luis Castillo than Derek Jeter at the plate. So far this year, Jeter has hit the ball on the ground 69 times in 27 games. Twenty of those hits have allowed him to reach base for a .290 average. That average is helped by leading the majors in infield base hits. Jeter's speed is still there but, as the season progresses, he will most likely see those numbers drop. On the rare occasion that Jeter does get the ball off the ground he has only a .133 average, 2 hits in 16 plate appearances. And, on the even rarer occasion that he hits a line drive he possesses a .444 average, 4 singles in 10 plate appearances. More often than not, Jeter has put the ball on the ground, and more often than not, an at bat is wasted. One can almost predict with certainty what Derek Jeter will do in an at bat. He will hit the ball on the ground.

So, if Derek Jeter's best days are behind him, what can the Yankees do about it? Manager Joe Girardi doesn't have an easy solution. Jeter started the year in the second spot in the order with Brett Gardner leading off. However, Gardner struggled and Jeter was elevated back to batting leadoff. Jeter has not exactly lit the world on fire from that spot either. He does possess a .417 AVG in the first inning through 27 plate appearances and a .455 AVG in the second inning in 12 PA's. However, in innings 4-6 he is hitting just .194 and in innings 7-9 he is hitting just .120. As the game progresses, so does the pitcher's ability to get him out. Of course, as a leadoff hitter, it is later in the game that runners will be in scoring position, a situation he is only hitting .130 in. These stats suggest that leading off he can still hit the ball, hitting .278 from the leadoff spot this year in 72 at bats. Sadly, in baseball, one has to be able to hit in all situations, something Jeter has done very little of in non-leadoff situations. There are few options to replace Jeter in the leadoff spot, with Brett Gardner the most viable option. Gardner, however, hasn't exactly shined in that spot either. Moving Jeter further down in the lineup than the #2 spot would create a media storm like no other in Yankee Stadium. This is a predicament but one that should never be taken into consideration if you are the manager of the Yankees where winning is the only thing. Surprisingly, leaving Jeter in the leadoff spot is the best option right now as it is the only place he is hitting the ball.

Watching Yankee games has been pretty painful at times this year. Jeter is not really hitting the ball out of the infield, or off the ground. But with a lack of options and the fact that as the first at-bat of the game Jeter is actually hitting better than anywhere else, it doesn't make sense to take him out of that spot. At least not this year at this point in time. So, Derek Jeter, the Yankee version of Luis Castillo, will be given every opportunity to fight his way through his struggles. After all, there is no way that his power, what little there was, has completely left him? One has to believe that he is capable of more than 2 extra base hits in 108 at bats which comes out to about 11 extra base hits over a 600 at bat season. The question is, will he?