Photo: William Purnell/Icon Sportswire
The Yankees finished 12th in the regular season in Defensive Runs Saved. They weren’t a great defensive team, but they weren’t a bad one either. The nuance in their defensive performance is in looking more closely at the numbers, which we’re going to do here.
Strengths
Pitch Framing
The Yankees led the majors in Defensive Runs Saved from their catchers in 2024. Whatever your thoughts are about pitch framing, the data shows that both Austin Wells and Jose Trevino are very good at it.
The two combined for 20 Runs Saved this season, 15 of them from our Strike Zone Runs Saved component, which measures if catchers are getting more called strikes than their peers.
Wells, who rates above average in the stolen base and pitch blocking components too, has gotten a couple of big called strike threes late in playoff games on borderline pitches at the knees.
Watch how Wells drops his glove to the dirt after setting the target in both instances. This allows him to raise the glove and catch both Luke Weaver’s four-seam and Tom Kahnle’s changeup with his glove coming into the strike zone. That pitch presentation gets him strike calls that other catchers may not get.
Shortstop
Over the last two seasons, Anthony Volpe ranks third among shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved.
Though Volpe’s total dipped from 15 Runs Saved in 2023 to 6 in 2024, he cut back on his Defensive Misplays & Errors from 46 to 31 while playing a similar number of innings.
Volpe’s strength, relative to other shortstops, is making the play going up the middle. Since debuting in 2023, he has made 21 more plays than an average shortstop on balls hit to his left compared two 2 more than average on balls to his right. He made a big one in the ALDS against the Royals that play-by-play announcer Bob Costas didn’t think he had any chance of making.
One thing to watch for Volpe: his double play effectiveness dipped this year. He turned one more double play than he did in 2023 but had 16 more opportunities. More on that in a second.
Left field
Alex Verdugo has a good track record in left field. He ranks second in Runs Saved there since the start of 2019 despite ranking 14th in innings played in that time.
Verdugo has made some nice catches in that time, but half of his 28 Runs Saved since 2019 come from his throwing arm and either holding baserunners or eliminating them.
Weaknesses
Second Base
Gleyber Torres looked like he had turned the corner at second base in 2022, totaling 9 Runs Saved there. But the last two seasons, his stats have reverted back to those from early in his career. He finished with -11 Runs Saved at the position. Only Jose Altuve (-13) ranked worse.
Torres’ defensive ledger this season includes a fair number of missed opportunities for double plays. Plays like this:
Torres had the most opportunities to turn a double play as either fielder or relay man of any second baseman this season. But he had the lowest percentage of successfully getting a double play (48%) among the 30 second basemen with the most opportunities.
Center Field
Aaron Judge has a track record of being a terrific right fielder. But like many who slide over from a corner spot to center field, defensive excellence doesn’t necessarily carry over.
Judge finished with -9 Runs Saved in center field this season. Only three players fared worse. In particular, he didn’t do as well as other center fielders on the shallowest-hit fly balls.
This was also Judge’s worst season in Statcast’s “jump” stats. In particular, he ranked in the bottom 10% of outfielders at both how much ground he covered in the first 1.5 seconds after a ball was hit (relative to an average center fielder) and how much ground he covered in the next 1.5 seconds.
Three other things
* How will it be to try to steal on the Yankees? This chart should help. The Dodgers should have opportunities to run if they can get on base against Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon, but it might be tougher against Clarke Schmidt.
Stolen Bases-Attempts, Notable Yankees Pitchers in Regular Season
| Pitcher | SB-CS |
| Carlos Rodon | 21-4 |
| Gerrit Cole | 15-2 |
| Nestor Cortes | 8-5 |
| Clarke Schmidt | 5-7 |
| Luke Weaver | 1-2 |
* Juan Soto had a very shaky September defensively, finishing the month with -5 Runs Saved, bringing his season total in right field to -1. Yes, Soto was a Gold Glove finalist and yes, he has a strong arm. But when it comes to playmaking, he can be a bit of an adventure.
* Circumstances might cause the Yankees to have relative newbies at both corner infield spots for extended periods of time.
Depending on Anthony Rizzo’s health and whether a lefty is on the mound, the Yankees may have to go with Jon Berti or Oswald Cabrera. Berti hadn’t played first base as a pro until this postseason. Cabrera has 5 career regular season starts there. How they will play is hard to predict.
Meanwhile, Jazz Chisholm has been up and down in 45 games at third base (-2 Runs Saved). Of the 40 third basemen who played the most innings in 2024, Chisholm had the third-most Misplays & Errors on a per-inning basis. The Yankees will live with the risk of those mistakes to get another potent bat in the lineup.
