The offense seemingly will be improved with the addition of Jason Giambi, Rondell White, Robin Ventura, and John Vander Wal, all of whom are fine offensive players. Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, and Scott Brosius will be missed, but White, Giambi, and Ventura are excellent replacements. However, with the departure of Chuck Knoblauch, a player strongly supported in good times and bad by manager Joe Torre, the Yankees do not have a true lead off hitter. Interestingly, that is not a critical weakness and it should not have a major effect on the team’s performance.
Ideally, a leadoff batter will reach base any way he can, which is why he must have a good idea of the strike zone, be willing to take pitches, and must make contact. Chuck Knoblauch was an effective leadoff hitter for most of his career, having drawn 776 career bases on balls and striking out 698 times, which is excellent in today’s game of free swingers, but like Wilbert Harrison, “Chuckie” has gone to Kansas City, leaving Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano as the primary candidates to lead off.
Jeter is a great player and actually has a higher lifetime on base average (.392) than Knoblauch (.382), but Jeter strikes out twice as often as he walks and is more effective batting second. Soriano is a budding star but his on base average this past season was only .304, which is a decent batting average, but extremely poor for a leadoff hitter’s on base average.
This leads to Nick Johnson, who spent most of the 2001 season with the Columbus Clippers of the International League where he batted only .256. However, Johnson was returning from a hand injury that caused him to miss the entire 2000 season and despite the low batting average, he drew 81 walks in 359 official plate appearances for a .407 on base average. In the season before his injury, Johnson played at the AA level and led the minor leagues with an outstanding .525 on base average, batting .345 and drawing 123 bases on balls. While he lacks speed, he did steal 9 bases in 11 attempts and hit into only 6 double plays.
