Why Derek Jeter’s Hot Start Was Just Temporary Escape from Father Time
June 19, 2012 · Jake Singer · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
After his remarkable second half of 2011, Derek Jeter picked up right where he left of in 2012. He hit .389 in the season’s first month with four home runs, 13 RBI and a 1.012 OPS. But the Captain’s performance has declined since May 1.
In May, he hit .293 with just one homer, and through 15 games in June, he’s just 18-for-76 and has grounded into five double plays. This includes a 1-for-7 performance in Washington on Saturday against the Nationals, although he did score one of two go-ahead runs in the 14th inning on a Mark Teixeira RBI double.
It is worth noting that Jeter may be turning things around. He has a nine-game hitting streak in which he’s gone 11-for-35 (.314).
Jeter still leads the league with 89 hits, but with his numbers going in the wrong direction, one must ask what Yankee fans can reasonably expect from him for the rest of the season.
It would be unfair to expect a 37-year-old to hit .389 over the course of a full season (Jeter turns 37 on June 26), but it’s also unlikely that his talent would disappear so quickly after playing so well for almost a year.
The truth is that he is probably somewhere in the middle, around the .317 average and .787 OPS he is at right now.
Jeter had a similar change in fortune last year, hitting .260 before going on the DL in June but then hitting .331 after returning from the DL and getting his 3,000th hit. He ended up hitting .297 in 2011 with a .743 OPS for the year.
Those numbers are only slightly below his numbers through 64 games in 2012.
Even though Jeter’s been slumping and is not a .389 hitter, I will make an argument for Jeter being the most important Yankee in the lineup.
In the Yankees’ 41 wins thus far in 2012, Jeter is hitting .326 with four home runs, 22 RBI and an .811 OPS.
In their 24 losses, he’s hitting just .300 with two home runs, two RBI and a .742 OPS.
The most glaring difference in those numbers is the RBI total. When Jeter drives in runs, the Yankees win. When he doesn’t, the Yankees don’t.
But I digress.
The fact remains that as long as Jeter’s performance continues to fluctuate, baseball fans will debate whether he is still a quality hitter, especially in the leadoff spot for the New York Yankees.
This author thinks that he is. He’s not going to hit upwards of .400 for an entire season (nobody does), but he’s clearly shown that he is capable of going on streaks of hitting well over .300 with power. Even when he’s not at his best, he is a smart baserunner and knows how to move runners over.
Jeter is past his prime, but he is still a solid hitter who is extremely important to the success of his team.
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