Around the Empire: Yankees news - 9/21/17

Around the Empire

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Yesterday was a day of dingers. Glorious, judicious, and kraken (crackin’) dingers. Aaron Judge hit his 45th home run of the year. Only four more to go until he ties Big Mac. That home run propelled Judge to 100 RBI for the year. Only four Yankee rookies have done that. Gary Sanchez immediately followed that up with his 32nd bomb. An inning later, Sir Didi Gregorius would hit his 25th dinger and set a new dinger record for Yankee shortstops hitting dingers in a single season. There’s no doubt how good of a player 1999 Derek Jeter was. Sir Didi is having an incredible year. So is Judge. And Gary. Good times.

Cut4 | Jessica Kleinschmidt: Sir Didi Gregorius is a knight. We don’t just put the Sir in front of his name for fun. After hitting his 25th dinger, Sir Didi accidentally hit Twins’ catcher Jason Castro with the bat. Being the knight that he is, Sir Didi turned around to apologize before rounding the bases. What a human being.

Fangraphs | Jeff Sullivan: Luis Severino did not have his best stuff yesterday afternoon. I think he’s owed a meh game here and there, considering he’s had his best stuff nearly all year long. Outside of Corey Kluber and Chris Sale, Severino has been the best starting pitcher in the American League. This article takes a look at how Severino has changed his approach from his dismal 2016 season, which seems like so very long ago. Give this article a read.

Baseball America | Matt Eddy: The Yankees have had a good season. You know who else has had a good season? Every Yankees’ domestic affiliate. All eight of their domestic affiliates combined for the highest winning percentage in the past ten years. Good things are coming from the lower levels. Hopefully they will help the upper levels for years to come.

SI.com | Gabriel Baumgaertner: Yesterday, Todd Frazier hit a foul ball into the stands that struck a toddler in the face. She was taken to the hospital and there has been no further update on her condition. The anguish from the players on the field to the fans in the stands was apparent. Several incidents like this have led to teams putting up expanded netting along the sides to prevent exactly this kind of gut-wrenching incident from happening. There is still no expanded, protective netting at Yankee Stadium. Last we heard, the Yankees’ front office was exploring the option. Exploration time is over. This should not be an issue. The Yankees are travelling to Toronto for the weekend. There should/better be protective netting up by the time they get back.

No Didi Victory Tweet today. Just concern for the young girl.