AL East Positional Rankings: Center Field an Uneven Field
By Nate Wardle
4. New York Yankees – Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner
We’ve already talked a good deal about Gardner, who started in left field primarily for the Yankees. We also touched on Hicks there, since he was the main backup for Gardner.
As for Jacoby Ellsbury, he started 90 games in center field for the Yankees, hitting .264/.348/.402 with seven home runs, 20 doubles, 65 runs scored and 39 runs batted in in 112 games total.
Ellsbury had an offensive WAR of 2.1 and a defensive WAR of -0.1, all for a total of 1.7. The offense was pretty good for the aging former star.
The defense, not as good. Ellsbury committed three errors for a .985 fielding percentage, and his range was well below league average, which isn’t surprising.
Overall, these numbers aren’t bad. But, Ellsbury is making $21.1M and will be for three more years as well. Ellsbury will be a Yankee through 2021 according to his contract, so the Yankees are going to have figure out what that means moving forward.
Hicks could easily be the team’s next center fielder, and his 1.5 dWAR and 2.4 oWAR show he could be a much cheaper, more successful player for the Yankees in center field.