Yankees: power or nothing

Like no other team in Major League Baseball, with the possible exception of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees base their offense solely, or almost solely, on hitting the bottom third of the ball to send it flying.

Every hitter in New York’s offensive line-up tries to hit the long ball with every at-bat. And it’s not because they’re all power hitters, but rather because the Bombers have made changes to the swing and angle of attack for many of them.

How did the Yankees go down this road? Here are some of the reasons.

It seems paradoxical, but runs scored with runners in scoring position and strikeouts are overrated in today’s baseball. In fact, the industry has devalued batting average, yet it’s still used in average calculations with RISPs.

Sure, putting all your eggs in one basket can be risky. But if the Yankees hit two bombs in a game, their chances of victory rise to 70%.

That’s why Yankees hitting coach James Rowson and his assistants Casey Dykes and Pat Roessler are masters at teaching controlled aggression: don’t hesitate to put your best swing in when you get a pitch in your zone, even if it’s not a strike.

Three of the five players in all of MLB with the highest increase in balls in the air this year are members of the Yankees, two of whom were acquired last year or this season. Not to mention Austin Wells (+5.7%), Paul Goldschmidt (+3.2), Jose Caballero (+2.5) and Cody Bellinger (+1.8%), all of whom increased their rates in 2025.

The same goes for Jazz Chisholm Jr. who, before being traded to the Yankees, was a ground ball hitter. Today, he’s a ball-striker in the air, almost to the extreme. All by changing the trajectory of the barrel towards the ball, as was the case with Giancarlo Stanton.

Even Captain Aaron Judge is on board. Judge made his swing change in 2022, the year he hit 62 home runs, to put the ball more in the air, and has been a model of consistency ever since.

And we haven’t even mentioned Trent Grisham and Ben Rice, who are having electrifying moments in 2025.

Like it or not, the Yankees have a way of winning the World Series based on putting the ball in the air and over the fence. Opposing pitchers will just have to keep the ball in the park.

This content was created with the help of AI.