{"id":666788,"date":"2026-04-06T17:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666788\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:41:16","slug":"yankees-confident-bottom-of-the-order-will-begin-to-produce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666788\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees confident bottom of the order will begin to produce"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is not much to nitpick in the Yankees<\/a>\u2019 hot start to the season, but there is one area where the team stands to improve.<\/p>\n

The Yankees (7-2) haven\u2019t received much production from their No. 6 through No. 9 hitters<\/a> \u2014 a portion of the batting order primarily composed of Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells, Jos\u00e9 Caballero and Ryan McMahon.<\/p>\n

Through nine games, the No. 6-9 spots in the Yankees\u2019 lineup have produced a combined batting average of .143 (18-for-126) with a .404 OPS, both of which rank last in the majors.<\/p>\n

The Yankees are the only team that has not gotten at least one home run from any of those spots in the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get some more production there,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said after Sunday\u2019s 7-6 loss to the Miami Marlins<\/a> in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chisholm showed signs of breaking through Sunday, drilling a two-run double in the ninth inning to salvage a 1-for-5 day.<\/p>\n

The All-Star second baseman \u2014 who hit 31 home runs with 31 stolen bases last year \u2014 has batted sixth in all nine games this season and is now 7-for-36 (.194) with three RBI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that could help a lot,\u201d Chisholm said of his ninth-inning knock against Miami\u2019s Anthony Bender, which jumped off his bat at 106 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re just working day-to-day, getting better every at-bat, and hoping to get hot soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

But remove Chisholm from the equation and the Yankees\u2019 early bottom-of-the-order numbers dip even further.<\/p>\n

Their No. 7 through No. 9 spots are a combined 11-for-90 (.122) with a .360 OPS.<\/p>\n

McMahon is 2-for-23 (.087), and his sixth-inning single Sunday snapped an 0-for-20 skid in which he struck out 11 times.<\/p>\n

Before Sunday\u2019s game, Boone said he believed the lefty-swinging third baseman was \u201ca little bit in between\u201d at the plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, not wanting to chase or not wanting to make a bad decision, which is great, but you\u2019ve also got to go out there and let it rip a little bit,\u201d Boone said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the early season where you\u2019re scuffling a little bit, you\u2019re a little bit in between, so just want him to get out there and, \u2018Let\u2019s get after it.\u2019 Because he is really talented. He\u2019s got pop. He does know the strike zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMahon did walk four times in the three-game series against the Marlins, and after he reached base twice Sunday, Boone said he hoped McMahon was \u201cbuilding some steam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caballero, meanwhile, is 4-for-31 (.129) with 10 strikeouts. Normally a speedy weapon off the bench, Caballero has started every game at shortstop this season as Anthony Volpe works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.<\/p>\n

Volpe is expected to begin a rehab assignment in mid-April.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle a little bit,\u201d Boone said of Caballero. \u201cHe\u2019s swinging through some pitches, I feel like, that usually he puts in play or he hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season, the Yankees \u2014 with largely the same batting order \u2014 got a .224 average from their No. 7-9 hitters, which ranked 25th in the majors.<\/p>\n

But those spots in the order provided significant pop, combining for 67 home runs, which tied for the MLB lead, while posting a .687 OPS, which ranked eighth in the majors.<\/p>\n

The 2025 Yankees\u2019 offense led the majors with 5.2 runs per game, 274 home runs and a .787 OPS.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Yankees entered Monday again averaging 5.2 runs per game, though they ranked 13th in home runs (nine) and 11th in OPS (.705).<\/p>\n

Of course, that is an incredibly small sample size, as nine games equates to less than 6% of the 162-game season.<\/p>\n

But an uptick in production from the bottom of the Yankees\u2019 order would help them come closer to replicating last year\u2019s offensive output.<\/p>\n

A\u2019S ON DECK<\/p>\n

Next up for the Yankees is a three-game series against the A\u2019s (3-6) in the Bronx, beginning Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Cam Schlittler (2-0, 0.00 ERA) is scheduled to start the series opener for the Yankees, with the A\u2019s set to counter with Aaron Civale (1-0, 3.60 ERA).<\/p>\n

Will Warren (1-0, 2.70 ERA) is set to start Wednesday against A\u2019s ace Luis Severino (0-1, 6.48 ERA).<\/p>\n

And Thursday\u2019s series finale features a battle of left-handers, with Ryan Weathers (0-0, 4.50 ERA) lined up for the Yankees and Jeffrey Springs (1-0, 2.38 ERA) slated for the A\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Severino, 32, came up with the Yankees and pitched eight seasons with them from 2015-23, earning two All-Star selections.<\/p>\n

The right-hander faced the Yankees twice last season, including once in the Bronx, and surrendered 13 earned runs in 7.2 innings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is not much to nitpick in the Yankees\u2019 hot start to the season, but there is one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[1797,963,1217,5,20455,1363,1965,1327,4,1690,62,2548,2547,1494,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-666788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-aaron-boone","9":"tag-as","10":"tag-austin-wells","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-cam-schlittler","13":"tag-jazz-chisholm-jr","14":"tag-jose-caballero","15":"tag-luis-severino","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-yankees","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkyankees","21":"tag-ryan-mcmahon","22":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116358996605514730","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}