The New York Yankees had a sensational month in May. They went 21-7 and dominated the league and their division.

Aaron Judge, who had struggled in April, bounced back with strength. Juan Soto continued at the high level he set in April. Their starting pitchers exceeded expectations. The bullpen had as much depth as anticipated.

Starting the month at 7 games over .500 and in second place in the American League East behind the Baltimore Orioles, they closed May 21 games over .500 and in first place in the division.

Let’s survey the batting statistics for the month:

Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aaron Judge of	28	97	28	35	12	0	14	27	22	29	1	.361	.479	.918	1.397
Jahmai Jones if	4	3	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	.333	.600	1.333	1.933
Jon Berti 3b	11	36	4	11	0	0	1	5	3	7	4	.306	.359	.389	.748
Juan Soto rf	28	108	20	32	5	2	7	24	15	25	2	.296	.384	.574	.958
Anthony Volpe ss	28	116	19	34	5	3	3	11	9	27	4	.293	.346	.466	.812
Jose Trevino c	19	54	7	14	0	0	3	7	3	7	0	.259	.305	.426	.731
Alex Verdugo lf	27	102	11	25	5	0	4	16	5	17	0	.245	.275	.412	.687
Anthony Rizzo 1b	26	96	13	23	2	0	2	10	6	14	0	.240	.302	.323	.625
Gleyber Torres 2b	28	96	12	23	5	0	4	10	13	25	1	.240	.327	,417	.744
DJ LeMahieu 3b/1b	3	9	3	2	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	.222	.417	.222	.639
Giancarlo Stanton DH	24	92	8	20	3	0	7	13	4	30	0	.217	.250	.478	.728
Ausin Wells c	15	47	3	10	5	0	0	2	1	10	0	.213	.229	.319	.548
Oswald Cabrera 3b	20	57	5	12	1	0	1	5	4	12	1	.211	.258	.281	.539
Trent Grisham of	10	17	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	0	.000	.150	.000	.150
Kevin Smith if/dh/pr	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Taylor Trammell of	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS

Catchers:

If the Yankees has one area in which they are not exceeding expectations, it is perhaps amongst the catchers. Gone now are Kyle Higashioka and Ben Rortvedt. They were traded away because the Yankees had Jose Trevino returning from injury and the youthful Austin Wells was expected to grow into the role.

Both of these players are doing well defensively, but they are not producing much at the plate.

To be fair, Trevino, who started slowly in April, has begun to shake off the rust. He has improved to .259 in May with 3 homers and has now slightly higher percentage of the time than Wells at the plate. Wells, on the other hand, hit only .178 in April, and .213 in May.

If we compare the pairing of Higashioka and Rortvedt to the new incumbents, it seems that the Yankees have lost some muscle development (Rortvedt) and gained a mustache (Wells). Nothing much else has changed.

Infielders:

In the infield, the greatest blossom is on everyday shortstop, Anthony Volpe. Volpe was magnificient in the field in 2023, and swift on the basepaths. However, he hit only .209 in that year and still had a great deal to prove going into Spring Training.

Prove himself he has. In May, he hit .293 with 11 extra base hits. He continues to show well in the field and tied Jon Berti for the lead in stolen bases this month.

The rest of the infield has been a mix of the good and the indifferent. The aforementioned Jon Berti has shared third base duties – when he has been available. He was injured for part of April, but returned to the roster in the first week of May. A great singles hitter who is speedy on the basepaths, he hit .306 in May. But a left calf strain meant that he was unavailable again three weeks later.

The rest of the time at third base was given to Oswaldo Cabrera and he started the season at a strong pace. However, he slowed in May to .211 with two extra base hits. Since his offense is his strong suit, Cabrera still has much improvement to show.

When Berti once again became unavailable, it was fortunate for the Yankees that DJ LeMahieu was ready to return from his rehab assignment. Playing at the corner infield positions, he has hit a mere .222 in his first three appearances, hopefully more time in the line-up will see his fitness fully return.

Gleyber Torres rebuilt his reputation in 2023, and after a slow start his power has begun to reurn after producing only 4 doubles and no home runs in March and April. He still needs to improve, but May saw him achieve 9 extra base hits from the 27 times he reached base safely.

Last of the regular infielders is Anthony Rizzo, who after doing badly in the final sections of 2023, started well in April with 5 home runs. But he has slowed in May hitting only .240 with 2 home runs. The Yankees will be beginning to feel a little hesitant about him after this and last year’s second half struggles and injuries.

Versatile bench infielder/outfielder Jahmai Jones only entered games in the late innings in May. However, in the four games where he was introduced as a defensive substitute, he also managed to pick up a hit which makes him a useful and multi-skilled pawn to have around.

Outfielders

By far the stongest piece in the Yankees’ offensive puzzle is the outfield.

Aaron Judge ended April with a .207 batting average. In May, he hit .361. Things began to turn around for him on May 3rd. Since then his performance has been dynamite. He hit 26 extra base hits including 14 home runs. In the month, he led the team in runs, doubles, home runs, RBIs. walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS as well as batting average. The only downside is that he strikes out a little too often, leading the team in that too.

Juan Soto with 14 extra base hits to add to his .296 batting average. He is clearly as much at home in New York as he was in San Diego. The fans love him and he loves them.

Alex Verdugo is another who has improved the outfield. He is no Soto, but with 25 hits in May of which 9 went for extra bases, he is a good addition.

One of the interesting situations which is developing is that Jasson Dominguez is approaching full fitness and rehab at the Somerset Patriots and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders will set him for promotion back to the Majors. However, the question which arises is that the Yankees are unlikely to want to use him solely as a bench player. It would raise the huge question of who they would leave out.

The current bench player is Trent Grisham who was part of the San Diego deal which added Soto. Grisham is doing fine in his occasional innings in the outfield, but his batting abilities have not reacted well to his bench role. in May, he had no hits in seventeen at bats. He will need to do more in the coming weeks. He has no chance of becoming an everyday outfielder on the Yankees (unless there are injuries). He will need to either adjust or he will find himself on a new club.

Taylor Trammell found himself with another very brief visit to the Bronx in early May. He appeared as a pinch-runner and then was sent back to the Minors. Kevin Smith fulfilled the same role at the other end of the month. Smith still hasn’t had an at-bat in his two periods on the roster this season.

Designated Hitters

Giancarlo Stanton doesn’t hit for average (.217 in May). Giancarlo Stanton can’t run. He doesn’t walk (4 in May). He strikes out too much. Fortunately, he can still home runs – hard, fast and long. There were seven such home runs in May. He has no future, but he will do for the present.