The Yankees had more wins than any other team in the American League and made it all the way to the World Series for the first time since 2009. Pretty good year, eh?
But they also endured long stretches of poor play, including fundamentally unsound moments, and one of the worst innings in Fall Classic history. The fifth frame of Game 5 was something out of a horror movie for Yankee fans.
Nightmare on 161st Street, anyone? (There was someone named Freddie involved.)
Anyway, we’ll try to put the AL champs into perspective with our annual report card of the major players. Remember, this team did make the World Series, the 41st in club history. Their marks reflect players’ roles and expectations.
Here are the grades:
Brian Cashman
The GM traded for Juan Soto and is the face of a front office that put together a World Series team. Not bad. His deadline was mixed – Jazz Chisholm Jr. added lineup sizzle, but Mark Leiter Jr. didn’t impact the bullpen as hoped, though he provided solid postseason work. Yanks still excel at creating strong bullpens. Now, of course, Cashman must re-sign Soto, especially with cornerstones Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole not getting any younger.
Grade: B+
Aaron Boone
The seventh-year manager, who has made the postseason six times in his career, seems unpopular with some Yankee fans, but he gets respect around the game. Dave Roberts, who beat Boone in the World Series, said he thinks Boone does “a fantastic job” and knows that “Aaron is the only one in baseball that can really relate to my job in the sense of either win a World Series championship or you failed.” Still, Yankee lapses were a season theme that bled into October. Boone must fix that going forward.
Grade: B
Juan Soto
They traded for him so he could help them to the World Series. After a tremendous regular season, Soto hit the 10th-inning homer that sent them there. Soto had 41 homers, 109 RBI and a .419 on-base percentage and enjoyed career-bests in runs, hits, homers, total bases and extra-base hits. He was a postseason force, too, with a 1.102 OPS and four homers. He was everything anyone could’ve expected.
Grade: A+
Aaron Judge
He’ll win AL MVP, and deservedly so, after leading the world in fWAR (11.2) and homers (58), as well as on-base percentage, slugging, OPS and RBI. He appeared in 158 games, a key stat for him, and played center field, as needed. If not for the postseason, he’d get the same grade as Soto. Judge struggled in October, batting .184 with 20 strikeouts in 49 at-bats. We’ll probably be hearing for years about that fly ball he dropped in Game 5 of the World Series, the entryway to a ruinous inning.
Grade: A
Giancarlo Stanton
In 114 games during the regular season, Stanton had 27 homers, 72 RBI and a .773 OPS. Good season for the DH. Then he exploded (again) in the postseason, blasting seven homers – the most in a single postseason in Yankee history – and notching 16 RBI and a 1.048 OPS. If every month were October, what would his numbers look like?
Grade: B+
Postseason Giancarlo grade: A++
Alex Verdugo
One of five Yankees to play at least 149 games, Verdugo was a reliable defender in left field (seven defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs) and an early vibemaster in the clubhouse. Offensively, he disappeared for a long stretch during the season, finishing at .233 with 13 homers and an OPS-plus of only 83.
Grade: C+
Jazz Chisholm Jr.
With 24 homers and 40 steals between the Marlins and Yankees, Chisholm was one of four MLB players to go 20-40. He also took over third base after the trade, though he had never played there before. He was just the kind of athletic young player the Yanks craved, but he struggled in the postseason (.559 OPS).
Grade: B
Anthony Volpe
Durable (one of nine MLB players to appear in 160 games) shortstop was a defensive stalwart all season, though he made a key throwing error in the World Series. His offense did not make the leap many anticipated during the regular season (.243 average, .657 OPS, 12 home runs), but his postseason offered eye-popping glimpses. Volpe hit a Fall Classic grand slam and his .815 postseason OPS was third on the team.
Grade: B-
Gleyber Torres
Saw the seventh-most pitches per plate appearance in MLB and soared as a leadoff hitter later in the season (.840 OPS over the final 39 games). But on-field lapses were too much a part of his game
Grade: B-
Anthony Rizzo
Injuries marred his season, which was limited to 92 games, and two broken fingers initially kept him off the postseason roster. But he reached base in 8-of-16 plate appearances in the ALCS. Yanks missed his defense at first during the regular season. Batted .228 with a .634 OPS.
Grade: C+
Austin Wells
His overall numbers (.229, .717 OPS) sagged toward the end of the season, but he was huge in providing lineup protection for Judge earlier. He had the 10th-best catcher’s ERA in MLB (3.79) and his fWAR was second among AL backstops. He’s a big part of the future.
Grade: B
Jose Trevino
Expert pitch framer had a 3.49 catcher’s ERA (eighth-best) but batted only .215 with a .642 on-base percentage and was below average in throwing out runners.
Grade: B-
Oswaldo Cabrera
Cabrera thrives on his versatility and played six different positions this year, making him a key bench piece. In 109 games, he hit .247 with a career-high eight homers.
Grade: B
Jasson Dominguez
Injury wrecked his year and he didn’t really have a chance to get going when he got back to the majors because he didn’t hit (.179 in just 56 at-bats) or give the Yanks confidence in his outfield defense. Next year is a big one for tooled-up, much-hyped youngster.
Grade: Incomplete
Gerrit Cole
A spring-training injury limited him to 17 starts and he was 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA. His numbers were skewed when he got clobbered by the Mets twice and the Red Sox once. He’s still an ace, which he showed in October (2.17 ERA), though there were some wobbles, too.
Grade: B
Carlos Rodón
The lefty led the Yanks in starts and innings and made huge strides after a disappointing 2023. He was 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA and was second in the AL in wins. He gives up too many home runs (31, second-most in the league) and needs to find postseason consistency – he dominated the Guardians for six innings in Game 1 of the ALCS, but had an 8.79 ERA in his other three October outings.
Grade: B
Clarke Schmidt
Lat strain cost him 86 team games, but he allowed three runs or fewer in each of his first 15 starts, tied for the longest streak in team history with Ron Guidry in 1978. (Definitely not comparing the two seasons, though!) Still, Schmidt was very good when healthy, topping the rotation with a 2.85 ERA and only 0.8 homers allowed per nine innings.
Grade: A-
Luis Gil
The great: Had 17 starts with one or zero runs allowed, tied with Tarik Skubal, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, and Garrett Crochet for most in MLB. He was 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA and his 171 strikeouts are the second-most by a Yankee rookie, behind only Russ Ford’s 209 in 1910. The scary: Led MLB in walks. Still, a terrific rookie year.
Grade: A-
Nestor Cortes
Most will remember the ill-fated pitch he threw to Freddie Freeman in Game 1 of the World Series when they think of Cortes’ season. One grand slam later, the Yankees were in a huge hole. But Cortes was second on the Yanks in starts and innings and pitched to a 3.77 ERA.
Grade: B
Marcus Stroman
One of three Yankee starters to get double-figures in wins (10), Stroman threw 154.2 innings and had a 4.31 ERA and 95 ERA-plus. He can still get ground balls (his 49.8 percent rate was eighth in MLB among pitchers with 150-plus innings) and he allowed three earned runs or fewer in 20-of-29 starts. But he could not crack the postseason rotation after briefly moving to the bullpen late in the year.
Grade: B-
Luke Weaver
One of the best stories of the Yankee year, Weaver morphed from depth piece to lockdown closer to October relief weapon. He held hitters to a .176 average and a 2.89 ERA in the regular season and then had a 1.76 ERA and a 0.652 WHIP with four saves and a win in the postseason.
Grade: A+
Clay Holmes
Holmes was an All-Star closer and then lost his job, moving to set-up role amid a slump. He blew 13 saves during the season, but still had 30 saves, a 3.14 ERA and was a reliable source of ground balls (64 percent ground-ball rate). Bloomed in October, too, going 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA and leading the Yanks by appearing in 13 of their 14 games.
Grade: B+
Tommy Kahnle
Changeup guru – he had several October outings where he exclusively threw his best pitch – was again a trusted set-up ace, holding hitters to a .190 average during the regular season while recording a 2.11 ERA in 50 games. He was unscored upon in eight of nine postseason appearances, though he gave up the eventual winning run in the final game of the World Series.