Five New York Yankees Who Need to Pick Things Up

Five Yankees Who Need to Improve

When the season first started for the New York Yankees, I had my doubts. Half of their best players were on the DL, and the rest of the American League East is very competitive. A lot of baseball experts also did not think much about the Yankees, as some of them predicted the Yankees to finish third or fourth in the division.

The Yankees have been one of the most surprising teams in baseball. At 17-10, they are only two games behind the Boston Red Sox for first place. They have also won seven of their last ten games. The thing that surprises me the most is that they’re still winning games, even with their best players on the Disabled List, including Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson.

Players who I did not to expect to step up are stepping up, such as Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner. The pitching has been good for the most part; through 27 games, Mariano Rivera has eleven saves. I said that the team’s main goal was to get through April in good shape, and it did. Their record for the month was 16-10.

I am hoping that May will be just as good as April but it should be even better. Curtis Granderson and Kevin Youkilis are expected to be back sometime during the middle of the month.

Not every player has been doing well on the Yankees. There are still a few players who need to pick things up. What I have done is make a slideshow of the five Yankees who I think need to improve.

Ivan Nova

1-1, 6.48 ERA. He has not been the same since June 2012. Hopefully he'll get back on the right track when he comes off of the DL.

Edaurdo Nunez

A .208 average, 0 home runs and 4 RBIs. With the way he's been playing, it makes you miss Derek Jeter even more. Jeter won't be back until at least mid-July so Nunez has plenty of time to improve.

Lyle Overbay

A .247 batting average and 4 home runs. He needs to bring up that average. The funny thing is that 12 of his 21 hits this season are RBIs.

David Phelps

1-1 with a 5.56 ERA. He started the season in the bullpen but was promoted to the rotation because Ivan Nova is on the DL. He looked a bit shaky in his first start against Houston on Wednesday with 5.2 innings pitched while giving up 4 runs on 8 hits. He ended up with a no-decision. This is a bit surprising because Phelps looked very good in 2012. I hope that this is just a bump for him because he's a much better pitcher than this.

Ichiro Suzuki

He is hitting .279 but he has only 5 RBIs. I do not expect him to hit a lot of home runs but he should be driving in runs, which is another surprise because he was one of the best Yankees in the second half of 2012. He's a veteran though. He'll pick things up.