Why Yankees have to put up with ‘extremely talented’ Aaron Hicks

Why Yankees have to put up with ‘extremely talented’ Aaron Hicks
By George A. King III July 14, 2016 | 8:03pm
Modal Trigger Why Yankees have to put up with ‘extremely talented’ Aaron Hicks

[nypost.com]

Giving up on Aaron Hicks isn’t an option for the Yankees.

The struggling outfielder is out of options and can’t be sent to the minor leagues to get regular playing time that could help him escape the season-long funk he has been in.

“He is obviously a talented player. He is out of options so he has to figure it out at the big league level,’’ GM Brian Cashman said of the 26-year-old outfielder, who is batting .197 with three homers, 17 RBIs and a .562 OPS. “He is extremely talented. He has to get the ball in the air more. There have been a lot of groundball outs. We will see where he takes it, but we aren’t giving up on him.’’

Hicks has made 71 outs on the ground and 51 in the air, not including line drives.

When Hicks was acquired from the Twins for John Ryan Murphy, the Yankees were attracted to his ability to hit lefties, but he is batting an anemic .155 (11-for-71) with a .443 OPS against them.

Cashman wasn’t ready to commit to Alex Rodriguez returning to the lineup even Saturday when the Red Sox start lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, though the right-handed hitter’s numbers are good against the lefty.

“I don’t know,’’ the GM said Thursday. “Joe [Girardi] will make the decision based on matchups and availability.’’

With Carlos Beltran playing right field in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game, it’s assumed the right hamstring that kept him out of the outfield for 11 of the past 12 games, including the final five before the break, will allow him to play right field when the Yankees open a crucial 10-game homestand Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

Yet, despite Rodriguez’s decent numbers against lefties and success against Eduardo Rodriguez, Girardi could use the right-handed hitting Rob Refsnyder as the DH.

Rodriguez, who is hitting .220 overall with eight homers, 28 RBIs and a OPS of .642, is hitting .267 (16-for-60) with three homers, 11 RBIs and a .791 OPS against lefties. Versus right-handers, the 40-year-old Rodriguez is batting .198 (25-for-126) with five homers, 17 RBIs and .600 OPS.

Rodriguez is 5-for-11 (.455) with a homer, three RBIs and a 1.280 OPS against Eduardo Rodriguez. Refsnyder is 1-for-5 (.200).

“Alex is looking for the opportunity to push his way back into the lineup,’’ Cashman said of Rodriguez, who has started one of the previous 10 games because Beltran needed to be the DH and the first three games of that stretch were in San Diego, where the DH wasn’t in play.

Luis Severino will not be considered for a big league start “unless the need arises,’’ Cashman said Thursday.

Girardi has often talked about Severino’s numbers being better than his quality of pitches at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where the right-hander is 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA after going 0-6 with a 7.46 ERA in the big leagues.

FILED UNDER AARON HICKS , ALEX RODRIGUEZ ,