It’s not working.
When the Yankees acquired center fielder Curtis Granderson this past winter in a trade with the Tigers for top prospect Austin Jackson, New York knew that Granderson struggled against left-handed pitching.
Last year, Granderson, who only hit .249 overall, batted a measly .183 versus southpaws. But the Bombers thought they could turn him around with the help of hitting coach Kevin Long.
As of July 19, the 29-year-old is batting .216 with a horrid .295 slugging percentage against lefties.
He’s not much better facing right-handers, putting up a .237 average overall with just seven homers and 24 RBIs. Granderson has been perfect on the basepaths, stealing seven bases in seven attempts, but it’s hard to get the total much higher than that when you only reach base only 30 percent of the time.
Remember when all those people said Granderson, who clubbed 30 homers at the larger Comerica Park in ’09, would connect for 40 this season thanks to the much shorter porch in right field at Yankee Stadium? He has only three blasts in 32 games there.
I’m not advising to release Granderson, but he certainly shouldn’t be starting against lefties right now. Right-handed-hitting Marcus Thames should be in the lineup versus all southpaws because he has a .314 average facing them this year.
By the way, Jackson is hitting .304 with 16 steals for Detroit.
Follow me on Twitter at JordanHarrison .
Jordan Schwartz is one of Bleacher Report’s New York Yankees and College Basketball Featured Columnists. His book Memoirs of the Unaccomplished Man is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and authorhouse.com.
Jordan can be reached at jordanschwartz2003@yahoo.com
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com