Short Stop
Derek Jeter is having another fine year. He's on his way to a two hundred hit, one hundred runs scored season again. (105 hits, 69 runs so far ) He hasn't hit as well with RISP this year, but you know Jeter. Derek seems locked in as a true lead-off hitter ahead of Cano, and that won't change the rest of the year unless Robinson suddenly loses it.
Defensively he is solid as usual, although his errors are a little up.(10) Nobody in the game has the innate knack to make the big play at the right time better than Jeter.
Grade: A
Third Base
Alex Rodriguez A-Rod had a huge first half. His numbers are way up over last year. He's eighth in the league in hitting .318, fourth in rbi's 72, second in hr's 23. third in OBP .998. Alex is also starting to get the kind of hits that Yankee fans demand from their players. He still hasn't come through every time but who does. Look for him to continue on this pace and he might be the first right handed hitter to drive forty home runs in many moons.
Defensively Alex is still getting adjusted to the hot corner and did make some costly early season errors, but lately has made some stellar plays with a strong throwing arm. Will he ever be the kind of player his teammates warm up to? I don't know, but if he produces big then the fans won't really care.
Grade: A
Catcher
Jorge Posada: The Charles Oakley of the Yankees. He has been the type of player that does two things wrong for every one thing right. His career is starting to fade now and hopefully Cashman can see the writing on the wall and look to fill this position sooner rather than later. Jorge still can get a big hit and does possess a good eye at the plate, but his failures behind the diamond are his most glaring weaknesses.
Posada is terrible at blocking balls in the dirt or when runners try to score and his arm is below average throwing out runners.( I'm not forgetting he is the worst base runner I've ever seen ) I do expect him to put together a nice hot streak in the second half, but maybe .250 is all we can expect instead of the .270, 30 hr's that he has produced before.
Grade: C
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