The 2019 New York Yankees are the team of a generation

The years 1961,1998, and 2019 are all distinct eras for the New York Yankees franchise. Our Todd Gerstenhaber breaks down what they have in common.

New York Yankees, 1961 team, featured greats of the game like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, and Whitey Ford. The 1998  squad featured the famed core four at their peak. This season’s bombers features Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, and DJ LeMahieu, among others.

What do these teams all have in common? Their starts. After a Friday night victory that had a characteristic early lead avenged by an equally distinctive mammoth home run by Edwin Encarnacion, the Yankees sit at a comfortable 63-33. Through 96 games, the 1961 and 1998 editions of the Yankees had this same record. The 1961 Yanks won 109 games. The 1998 Yanks: 114. These teams also had larger than life personalities and avenged the shortcomings of the season prior, where they couldn’t quite get over the hump.

Last year, the Yankees lost close games, and couldn’t get over the hump against their division rivals, which ultimately resulted in their downfall. This year, the Yankees are a changed team – accumulating 34 of their 63 wins within their division, capitalizing on the weaknesses of the Orioles, Blue Jays and yes, even the Red Sox.

We can look at fancy statistics to quantify why the Yankees are the best team in baseball currently. The Yankees hit the ball hard, and often. Looking at stats like Barrel Rate (which measures how hard a baseball is hit), the Yankees have a Barrel Rate of 9%, 43% higher than the MLB average. The Yankees not only hit the ball hard, but they get on base more often on those hard-hit balls than average. The Yankees’ WOBACON (Weighted On Base Average on Contact) is.409, where the league average is .369. For reference, Cameron Maybin currently sports a barrel rate of 10.7% and a WOBACON of .482.

These Yankees aren’t all about stats. This has been a slow build to this point where the Yankees currently sit. This has been about the growth of a team, sticking to a plan, and building an identity in the process, culminated by the NSFW “Savages” rant manager Aaron Boone unleashed on an umpire Brennan Miller against the Rays.

The growth of this team started a few moons ago, with a three-run homer that brought back a playoff atmosphere not felt in a few years in the Bronx. When Didi Gregorius launched his homer into the October 2017 night, you knew the Yankees were back to their old ways. The mystique and aura were back. Then, it all halted in 2018. The Yankees were dominated by the Red Sox pitching staff and outmaneuvered by a manager willing to risk everything for his players to win.

Instead of panicking, the Yankees executed their plan. They took a page out of their rival’s book in the process. Fans had opinions, stories were written, players were mocked in pinstripes. Acquiring Manny Machado. Acquiring Bryce Harper. Trading Sanchez. Firing Boone. Some fans and talking heads, if they had their way, would have had this become a reality. Instead, the Yankees made small incremental changes.

LeMahieu (DJLM) was Brian Cashman’s answer to the hot stove questions. Machado, the preferred choice, has a.270 BA/.356 WOBA. None of that is terrible. Yankees fans would trust DJLM with their lives at this point. His performance with runners in scoring position – a .446 average – speaks for itself. He also has a .329 BA/.375 WOBA. After acquiring guys like Sonny Gray last year, who was not ready for pinstripes, DJLM is the antithesis of every player who comes here and doesn’t grow into their stripes. LeMahieu broke his record for RBIs in a season on July 19th.

Gio Urshela, a career minor-league journeyman, is batting .305 with a WOBA of .357. He made the team out of camp as a backup. Same with Mike Tauchman. We’ve had cameos from Clint Frazier, and Tyler Wade, and Mike Ford. A game in April featured a 4-9 in the lineup of Frazier, Tauchman, Ford, Urshela, Kyle Higashioka, and Wade. Many of these names are unfamiliar to casual Yankees fans, but they would all be integral parts of major league teams in other organizations.

Winning creates confidence. You hit the ball, and you win ball games. Stats uncover this in their ways, but the story is told on the field, by players, and managers. Boone, who would’ve stayed mum in the dugout if his players were getting squeezed by a tight strike zone last year, came out and made a soundbite that galvanized his team. He manages his bullpen as Alex Cora led his in 2018.

If you’ve been following this team, this performance shouldn’t surprise you. When the Yankees decided to make a strategic shift to avoid paying excessive luxury tax bills, many balked at this change. Instead of buying many high-priced free agents, the Yankees have made moves that build organizational depth. This is where the Gio Urshelas, and Mike Tauchmans, and DJ LeMahieus come into play. It’s why Cashman made trades like the one to send Chapman to the Cubs, for a guy named Gleyber Torres. The Yankees’ longstanding, unofficial policy of never giving in before their season is over was broken.

All of this has created the perfect storm. The Yankees are a fully operational death star thanks to the strategic shift that occurred years ago. The last World Series-winning Yankees team was built off of a historic offseason spending spree that was looking to bring a winner to a new venue, a la the 1923 Yankees. Instead of spending approximately half a billion dollars, the Yankees acquired LeMahieu, Tauchman, and continue to make moves to re-tool their farm that birthed stars like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, and Gleyber Torres.

The 2019 Yankees are the culmination of a years-long process, built by a GM with a stick-to-itiveness based on a 20+ year track record. The strategy has changed – instead of signing the Jason Giambi types of the world, Cashman hoards international pool dollars to sign superstars of the future like Jasson Dominguez. A few years back, the Yankees made a similar move for a guy named Gary Sanchez. Cashman acquires international pool money through trades such as the one that sent struggling reliever Chasen Shreve to the Cardinals for international pool funds and a toss-in of minor league 1B Luke Voit.

All of these moves have built the Yankees into what they are today. 2016 was the re-tool year. 2017 was the development year. 2018 was the year of transition. Now, in 2019, based on the strategy put in place to build confidence throughout the organization, the Yankees have finally arrived. Depth has created confidence where any player who comes in feels they are worthy and proves it. The stars are mostly homegrown, a la 1961, and 1998.

The threads of time weave through the 2019 Yankees, connecting them to a bygone era. This bygone era was one of great success – and despite the strategic shift, the result may be the same here. Buckle up for October. This may be a team Yankees fans may never forget.