The most underrated player in MLB and the human wind parachute:

They're both Yankees.

The identity of the human wind parachute should come as no surprise to you.  The Yankees with their success in 2017 have reached a critical time in how they handle the albatross of Jacoby Ellsbury.  Prior to this year, due to a combination of low team expectations and the lack of depth, sending him out there every day…just…because…could have been justified with a shoulder shrug.

Not anymore.  The Yankees are one of the best teams in baseball and are surely looking at the big picture for 2017 – i.e. October.  Combine that with the Yankees’ new found very deep and very talented outfield roster and now Ellsbury’s play is a problem.

I won’t go into beating a dead horse too much about Ellsbury and his lack of production over the course of his Yankee career.  But I did check, and I’ll leave it at this:  He’s playing better this season than at any point in his Yankee career – and he’s still only an average major league player, at best.

Again, if you had low expectations for your team, or if you had plus players at all other positions, or if you had zero outfield depth, you may be able to live with it.  But none of the above is true.  The Yankees have high expectations for the team, they have below major league level performances at 3B and 1B (and for the next 3 months, probably 2B too), and have some SERIOUS depth among their outfield roster.

To the 3^rd point…

The Yankees have 3 of the best 10 outfielders in baseball.

No, that’s not a misprint.  Among major league outfielders with a minimum of 144 plate appearances, 2017 WAR rankings, Aaron Judge is #2, Brett Gardner is #6 and Aaron Hicks is #11.  Given that Hicks has been on the field less often than any of the 10 players above him, to me that means he’s played better than some of them.  I’ll come back to that…

The Yankees simply cannot afford to have Ellsbury taking at bats away from any of those three.  It simply will cost the team wins.

What about the need for a 4^th outfielder you ask?

Currently in AAA, Dustin Fowler has a .351 on base percentage, .581 slugging percentage for an OPS of .933.  Clint Frazier is dealing a .335 OBP, .506 SLG, .841 OPS season.  Both have above average range as outfielders.

The Yankees HAVE to find a way to convince another team to take Ellsbury off their hands, even if it means eating the bulk of his salary.  His presence is literally costing them wins in a season where you’ll need all of them. 

I’m not going to do Brian Cashman’s research for him, but I would watch Kansas City.  If they continue to play poorly, they’ll become deadline sellers, and they have several free agents that would be big chips for contending teams – CF Lorenzo Cain being one of them.  Maybe the Yankees can pull off a 3 team deal, with Cain going to a contender that needs a CF.  KC may be interested in taking Ellsbury to simply fill the spot short term, while the Yankees eat the salary.  Maybe KC they can even get cash from the third team…

Back to Aaron Hicks.  Aaron Hicks is the most underrated player in baseball.

As I mentioned, Hicks has contributed more to his teams wins than 60 of the other 70 outfielders in baseball with a minimum of 144 plate appearances.  Aaron Hicks has 144 plate appearances exactly, meaning the other 70 have had more opportunities to contribute.

As a reference, he has a higher WAR than Charlie Blackmon, George Springer, Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Zobrist – all bona fide, or emerging stars.

He’s third among MLB OF in on base percentage, only behind Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.

He’s 5^th in OPS+, 6^th in OPS, 9^th in slugging percentage.

And if you’re wondering if he’s going through a hot streak where he’s finding holes, he’s hitting .298 on batted balls in play, which is in the bottom half of MLB outfielders and below league average.  In other words, he’s been unlucky.

Throw in that he’s a switch hitter who can play three positions at about a league average level - that adds immense value to a team that’s virtually impossible to grade numerically.  I’ll let Joe Girardi explain the ways in which that flexibility helps both in single game management and long term planning.

If the Yankees are serious about winning in 2017, we’re going to need to see more of Aaron Hicks and (much) less of Jacoby Ellsbury.

Thanks as always to baseball reference for the numbers.