It’s a good thing for Stephen Drew that the casual Yankee’s fan does not follow the minor league system too closely. Otherwise, the Yankee faithful would have chanted Rob Refsnyder’s name very loudly by the middle of May. It would have ruined Drew’s psyche, and would have forced the Yankees to consider parting ways with the veteran second baseman in favor of the young prospect. And when I say good for Drew, I also really mean good for the Yankees in general.
It was a rough start to the season for Stephen Drew, by the end of May; he was batting .157 with an OBP of .224. Such a low on-base percentage is almost impossible to fathom, but anything was possible in regards to Stephen Drew’s poor season at the time. May was particularly bad, as he only managed a single home run after hitting four in March/April. In May, Drew had a wRC+ of 7. For those who don’t know, this is a stat that finds how many runs a player created based on their On Base Percentage (OBP) and slugging percentages. It then normalizes it so that 100 is league average, and any point above or below is one percent above or below average. Think about it now. wRC+ of 7 means that Drew was 93% worse than league average. It was an absolute nightmare.
Meanwhile, Refsnyder was banging down the door. The bat-first prospect finished the 2014 season with a slash line of .300/.389/.456 with 8 home runs in 333 plate appearances. His bat was cold to start off 2015, but after a slow month, it looked like Refsnyder was ready to bang the door down again. The Yankees made a very Yankees-like decision: Stay the course and give the veteran a chance to prove that he can pull out of the disaster of a season. While it was looking like 2005 all over again with Tony Womack and Robinson Cano, the Yankees decided that Refsnyder’s defense needed more work. The 24-year-old righty who was still making the adjustment after converting from an outfielder was simply committing far too many errors. If Stephen Drew had one thing on Refsnyder, it was a plus glove. The Yankees knew that throwing their future 2B into the fire and forcing him to learn defense on the fly would be a poor decision. So far, more than halfway into the month of June, the decision seems to be paying dividends
The biggest difference is in Drew’s power. He has four home runs in June with about a week and a half left. This is the same number of home runs he had in March/April. Even when we’re not looking at home runs, he seems to be hitting balls into the gaps for doubles. In 54 June plate appearances, he has hit three doubles. He only hit 7 in his previous 170 PA’s. The traditionalist looks at Drew’s batting average of .208 for the month and continues to decry him. However, his increase in power along with a small increase in on-base ability has given him a June wRC+ of 115 – 15% better than league average. We’re talking about a 108% increase between May and June. Now, 15% above average sounds great, but when you consider second base as a position that is usually offense-starved, it’s even better. We have no way of knowing whether or not Refsnyder would be out-hitting Drew right now, but one thing is certain; his defense would wipe out any benefit that Drew is giving the Yankees.
Will this all stick for Drew? Who knows? At least for now, Drew has cheated free agency death. There isn’t really any evidence to tell us that what Drew is doing in June is sustainable. The best thing Yankee fans can do is hope that when the clock strikes midnight that the carriage that is Stephen Drew does not turn into a pumpkin. It’s been a rough couple of seasons for the former shortstop who showcased really good hitting ability in Boston before his qualifying offer fiasco. The Yankees hope that Drew can keep this up until Refsnyder is ready to claim the throne that is second base.
New York Sandlot 