The New York Yankees are not the team they were in the first months of the season, but they have improved from the form that they were showing in June and July.

In August, they went 14-12. They managed to return to 1st position in the American League – and opened up a 1 1/2 game lead over the Baltimore Orioles. It could be better, but not what’s not to like right?

In fact, most of the improvement was down to the positive lift given by a pitching staff that was meeting expectations more than had previously, but we will come to that in our next article.

There were some bright lights amongst the batters too. Let’s see who they were:

Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aaron Judge of	26	90	21	35	6	0	12	24	25	23	2	.389	.530	.856	1.386
Austin Wells c	22	77	6	25	5	0	4	15	8	18	0	,325	.391	.545	.936
Jazz Chisholm jr 3b/of	18	67	11	20	3	0	5	6	4	22	5	.299	.338	.567	.905
Gleyber Torres 2b	25	98	13	27	2	0	2	8	14	18	0	,276	.363	.357	.720
Oswaldo Cabrera 3b/of	13	34	5	9	1	0	2	3	2	3	1	.265	.306	.471	.777
DJ LeMahieu 3b/1b	18	55	6	14	1	0	0	7	2	9	0	,255	.262	.273	.535
Anthony Volpe ss	26	97	11	24	7	0	2	12	7	25	6	.247	.302	.381	.683
Giancarlo Stanton dh/of	21	76	6	17	5	0	5	15	6	22	0	.224	.286	.487	.773
Juan Soto rf	26	99	20	22	5	0	10	19	20	21	0	.222	.353	.576	.529
Alex Verdugo lf	24	93	14	19	4	0	1	5	9	16	0	.204	.269	.280	.549
Carlos Narvaez c	2	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	.200	.429	.200	.629
Oswald Peraza 3b	4	10	2	2	0	0	1	1	1	3	0	.200	.273	.500	.773
Trent Grisham of/dh	10	25	2	4	1	0	1	3	2	9	0	.160	.250	.320	.570
Jose Trevino c	6	14	1	1	1	0	0	0	4	2	1	.071	.278	.143	.421
Ben Rice 1b	14	35	5	2	0	0	0	1	5	11	0	.057	.171	.057	.228
Jasson Dominguez cf	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS

Catchers

Jose Trevino had gone on the injured list on July 13 with a quad strain. In reality, he was already regarded by the front office as the second-choice and second-best catcher. His defensive work is weaker. His batting average and power have fallen away. In every category, Austin Wells has opened up a clear lead – and Wells is younger. He is the future, and Trevino is the past. So, it was no surprise that when the Yankees called up Carlos Narvaez to cover for Trevino whilst he was on the injured list, Wells had an unusually large lion’s share of the catcher’s work. And Wells used the time well to even further advance his claim. He hit .325, with 9 extra base hits (4 home runs). He has proved himself defensively, and I think the only question remains which prospect they bring in nest season as they let Trevino go.

Trevino did make it back before month end, but he hit only .071 in 6 games. Narvaez is probably not the guy for the future, but he proved an adequate respite for Wells. Narvaez only played in 2 games, going 1 for 5.

Infielders

A while ago, I predicted that Ben Rice looked like one of those players (think Shane Spencer or Kevin Maas) who would break into the team like a streak of lightning and then fade. In fact, he has been a little worse than those guys. In August, he appeared in 14 games and hit just .057 whilst exhibiting no power. When your most obvious alternative is DJ LaMahieu who has been struggling all year long, then things are not looking so good. Thankfully, LeMahieu had one of his better months in August. He hit .255 with a double. Not great, but in this predicament it will have to do. The slighter longer term outlook is that Anthony Rizzo is approaching return, but only time will tell whether his best days are, like LaMahieu, entirely behind him. Let’s wait and see.

Gleyber Torres has had a great season in the “team player” column. He and Marcus Stroman had an onfield strop some months ago. He declined to play third base when the Yankees wanted to slot Jazz Chisholm jr in at second. This meant that Chisholm who had never played third had to fit in at third (which has been a real learning process – which he has handled well most of the time). Meanwhile, Torres has continued in his usual role. It is a given that he won’t be back in the Bronx in 2025, but this month’s .278 with 2 home runs and 2 doubles will do.

Chisholm will in all likelihood take over at 2b next year. In the meantime, he divides his time at third between some accomplished plays and some fielding errors. In the circumstance, this is to be expected. This month, he hit a great .299, with a .905 OPS (3 doubles, 5 home runs). He was third on the month in OPS behind Aaron Judge and Austin Wells. He was also third on the team in slugging, on-base percentage, and batting average. He is by far the best of the deadline imports, and he will be in New York for the long term.

Anthony Volpe at shortstop had a middling time of it in August. He hit .247 with 9 extra basehits. He brings a speedy threat on the basepaths, and his fielding is exemplary with a strong throwing arm.

Bench Players? Well, mostly, Oswaldo Cabrera with a side dressing of Oswald Peraza. Cabrera is a likeable, energetic player who hit .265 in August. Peraza was a brief call-up from Scranton. He played in just 4 games and hit .200. He needs more opportunities to get into his stride.

Outfielders

Aaron Judge – rightfielder, centerfielder, occasional leftfielder, designated hitter – and the best American offensive player of his generation. We’ll leave the Judge-Ohtani debate for another day. Along with Volpe and Juan Soto, he played more games than anyone for the Yankees in August. From the start of the month, he hit another twelve hone runs. His habit of clearing the outfield fence fell off as the month came towards its end., but there were still the singles and the doubles, and some outstanding defensive plays to relish.

Juan Soto, who was in right field all of this month, began to slow down as the month progressed. His batting average on the month fell to .222, but there was still 15 extra base hits to talk about, but with the Judge-Soto synchronicity falling off, the duo produced less runs in the final third of the month. Soto might be on base (or he might not), when Judge came to bat but with less homers coming from Aaron, the energy was fading just a little.

In left, most days, Alex Verdugo still provided a very solid defensive presence, but his bat was very quiet – .204, 5 extra base hits. Sadly, Trent Grisham was even quieter. His .160 with one double and one homer isn’t what the Yankees are looking for. He will see more bench time than anything else for the rest of the year.

Besides that, Jasson Dominguez received a one-game call up. He went hitless with 3 strikeouts. He did very well at Scranton since returning from injury. It is unclear whether he will be in the Bronx during September. Any which way, 2025 belongs to Jasson if he can stay fit.

Designated Hitters

The Yankees don’t seem inclined to take any more risks on Giancarlo Stanton‘s body, so when he is in the line-up, he will be at designated hitter. When he is not selected, one of the outfielders will be DH. He did play some role in 21 of the games this month. He had ten extra base hits, split equally between doubles and home runs. His running ability (or more precisely his lack of it) is a real factor. The Yankees really don’t want him chugging around the bases if he hits a single, which he did 7 times this month. He splits his time between being a strength and a liability.