Tuesday night’s game between the Yankees and the New York Mets ended in a disheartening loss. Aaron Boone, the manager, changed the batting order despite the team having just emerged from a commanding offensive victory against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, which caused some offensive difficulties.
First and foremost, Boone made the already perplexing decision to put Jahmai Jones at leadoff. The most dubious choice, though, was to use J.D. Davis as the main cleanup hitter.
After all, before sending Davis to the Yankees in exchange for prospect Jordan Groshans, the Oakland Athletics had designated him for assignment.
Although the 31-year-old has shown power in the past, his offensive output this season is far below average. He’s actually hitting.216/.288/.338 with seven walks, six RBIs, four home runs, and a 24.8% strikeout rate. The Mets’ strategy on Tuesday was to target Davis and walk Aaron Judge, which led to a double play and two strikeouts.
Every time Judge batted, the Mets were effectively handing the Yankees a free base, so it was unfortunate that they weren’t able to take advantage of that. The choice to assign Davis to cleaning is yet another illustration of inadequate roster building and administration.
Giancarlo Stanton is not on the squad right now, but it would have been preferable if Gleyber Torres had been included in the cleanup. As the leadoff hitter, Jones also contributed nothing; he grounded out to third base and struck out twice before Trent Grisham took his position.
