Didi Gregorius’ best moments with the Yankees, as told by his tweets

The Yankees are losing a quality player with Didi Gregorius signing with the Phillies. Yes, there are baseball reasons that make it an understandable move, but it’ll still be sad to see him in another uniform.

The Bombers, however, are losing more than just a good player; they’re losing a generally great personality. Between team commercials, humorous dugout antics, and his general affability, Gregorius had deservedly become a fan-favorite in recent seasons. No place was that more evident than his Twitter account.

We have been on the record about our love for Didi’s twitter, and for good reason. His tweets, always containing praise for teammates and corresponding emojis, after wins were always a nice way to cap off good days for the team.

Now that he and his tweets are no longer with the Yankees, let’s combine the two and look back at his best moments in pinstripes.

#5

Gregorius was absolutely on fire to start the 2018 season. Never was that more evident than during his incredible performance on April 3rd. In a win over the Rays, Didi went 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, eight RBI, and even still had time to walk once. As will be theme with tweets from games where he himself had the major performance, Gregorius was full praise for everyone but himself. In this case it was Jordan Montgomery, who had an okay but unspectacular performance, yet was the first person Didi thought to praise.

#4

This tweet refers back to an incident in a 2015 game against the Rangers. When the Yankees tried to turn a double play, Elvis Andrus made contact with Gregorius’ groin while sliding into second. Not that this moment is one of Didi’s best as a Yankees, but this tweet is a stand in for all the non-playing moments he brought us over the years. Even in telling a story about getting hit below the belt, he managed to turn it into a humorous moment.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

#3

After trailing by four runs going into the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees rallied to tie the game against the Rangers on June 29, 2016. After Starlin Castro walked, Gregorius then stepped to the plate and delivered a walk-off home run to cap off a six-run inning that got them a win. The 2016 season marked the beginning of Didi’s change from good defender with an average bat into a borderline All-Star. He hit 20 home runs that season, which he would repeat the following two years.

#2

The Yankees had rallied to even the series from a 2-0 deficit in the 2017 ALCS, but they still faced a monumental task in game five. Corey Kluber was on the mound for Cleveland just a few weeks of when he would officially win his second Cy Young Award.

In steps Didi.

After Kluber got the first two outs of the game on just seven pitches, Gregorius took a pitch over the right field wall to give the Yankees an early lead. Two innings later, he again took Kluber deep, this time for a two-run shot that made it 3-0. They would add a couple more runs, but those three would be enough as the Yankees completed a 5-2 win and a comeback to send them to the ALCS.

#1

Game Five wasn’t the first time Didi had been the hero that postseason.

After coming up short in the division race, the Yankees had to settle for a birth in the AL Wild Card Game in 2017. Between them losing in that round in 2015 and the three runs Luis Severino then allowed, people were rightfully nervous and scared after the top of the first. Their win expectancy was just 28%.

The top of the Yankees lineup did their job as Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge walked and singled. Two batters later, Gregorius dug in. After working the count full, he homered off Ervin Santana, tying the game at three. That would be his only hit of the day, but the Yankees mostly were fine from there, eventually winning 8-4. That home run is arguably the first big moment of this current era of the Yankees.