NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Yankees dropped $13 million on Matt Holliday to hit and improve a lineup that doesn’t have a genuine middle-of-the-order bat.
Holliday may be a few years removed from what he was from 2006 to 2014, when he batted .309 and averaged 26.4 homers and 101.3 RBIs, but he explained Wednesday that he expects to hit better in pinstripes than he did with a Cardinal across his chest in St. Louis this past season.
“Quite frankly, I probably hit too many hard-hit ground balls,’’ said Holliday, who batted .246 with 20 homers and 62 RBIs in 110 games and missed six weeks late in the season with a fractured left thumb. “Nowadays with how good the infielders are, it’s not a good idea. I think if I can combine the exit velocity with a little bit more lift and have my misses be more in the air than on the ground, my numbers could really get back toward where they have been my whole career. I think it’s a good sign that the exit velocity was really high. I did have a little bit of bad luck, but that’s no excuse.’’
In the release announcing the one-year deal, which was agreed upon Sunday, the Yankees highlighted Holliday’s exit velocity of 94.7 mph. Among hitters with 100 batted balls in play last season, that was third in baseball. Nelson Cruz (95.9) and Giancarlo Stanton (95.1) were ahead of Holliday.
Holliday, who took a physical in New York, hasn’t had the chance to speak with Joe Girardi about where he will be used. However, Holliday’s days playing regularly in left field are over. DH is where he will get the bulk of at-bats, with first base and possibly right field sprinkled in. Asked where Holliday would hit in the order, Cashman said it was Girardi’s decision.
“I got a little bit of experience in the last couple of years [at DH],’’ Holliday said of Cardinals games against AL clubs. “I feel like I have a grasp of what it was like and found a routine I found that worked well. From that standpoint I feel comfortable with that. I do think DH-ing a little bit more often will allow me to stay fresher and feel better physically more often than maybe in the past, but I felt great last year.’’
In 32 career games as the DH, Holliday is a .260 (33-for-127) hitter with nine homers, 26 RBIs and an .876 OPS. Last season, he was the DH in eight games and batted .368 (14-for-38) with five homers, 12 RBIs and a 1.253 OPS.
As for questions about him being limited to 183 games in the last two seasons, Holliday said this past year’s injury wasn’t related to age. He will be 37 next month.
“Getting hit by a fastball on the thumb was not something you would say, ‘Well, he is fragile or getting older or he has missed time again,’ ’’ Holliday said. “That would have broken a 20-year-old’s thumb. I feel pretty good from where I am at as far physical and what I can do and doing whatever they ask me to do.’’
Which first and foremost will be to hit and make good use of a right-handed swing that drives balls to right-center, which is a nitro zone for hitters in Yankee Stadium.