New York Yankees' 'Biggest Weakness' Deemed to be in This Area

This area was listed as the New York Yankees' "biggest weakness."

Aug 17, 2020; Bronx, New York, USA; A general view of rain falling on the New York Yankees logo on the first base dugout roof during a rain delay in the game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees fell to a half game back of the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East after closer Clay Holmes' latest implosion on Tuesday night.

While it's safe to say that bullpen is a glaring issue for the Yankees right now, there is another area that has been a major problem for a number of years.

A September 3 article from Bleacher Report listed the Yankees' inability to develop hitters as their "biggest weakness."

"Aaron Judge A) exists and B) has obviously done pretty well for himself since going to the Yankees with the 32nd pick in the 2013 draft," Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report wrote. "But in the grander scheme of first-round picks they have used on hitters this century, he's an outlier.

"The Yankees have also seen Gary Sánchez, Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres achieve stardom only to quickly lose it, and the same is happening with Anthony Volpe. So when people rip (see here, here and here) the team's hitter development, they have a point."

Back in July, Judge's personal hitting coach, Richard Schenck, blasted the Yankees for this deficiency on X/Twitter.

“They’ve lost 13 out of 18 while (Judge's) hitting like an MVP,’’ Schenck posted. “The Yankees offensive player development is terrible.’’

They’ve lost 13 out of 18 while he’s hitting like an MVP

The Yankees offensive player development is terrible.

— Richard Schenck, JFD PPP LQC TTE 🙂 (@Teacherman1986) July 4, 2024

Judge of course is the frontrunner for the AL MVP Award, as he has slashed an astonishing .324/.457/.706 with a 1.163 OPS, 51 home runs and 124 RBIs.

That being said, the Yankees haven't gotten much out of their homegrown sluggers in 2024 or in recent years.

Volpe, who is hitting better as of late, has had his fair share of ups-and-downs in the first two seasons of his big-league career. Overall, the 23-year-old shortstop has a .233 batting average and .679 OPS in 297 career games.

One silver lining has been 25-year-old catcher Austin Wells, who is having a breakout season. In 96 games, Wells is hitting .251/.341/.433 with a .774 OPS, 12 homers and 42 RBIs.

The Yankees haven't been back to the World Series since they won it all in 2009. One of the biggest reasons behind this drought is that they have struggled to develop hitters not named Aaron Judge.