Aaron Hicks Doesn’t Know His Role Because He Doesn’t Have One
Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks is stuck. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a career infielder, started at center field –something he’s never done — for the Yankees on Sunday. Hicks has played center for a majority of his career, but was passed on to start. It’s becoming obvious that Hicks simply does not have a role with the Yankees at all, and any role he used to have is diminishing faster than sales at Blockbuster.
“I have no idea what my role is,” Hicks told Brendan Kuty of The Athletic before the Yankees final game of their opening series against the Giants.
“It’s kind of uncertain. I just want to play. I don’t want to come off the bench and face closers all day. I want to play the field, I want to play everyday, and it’s just what I want to do. I want to start. I really don’t know what else to say.”
This is starting to look like an ugly divorce between Hicks and the Yankees. The 33-year-old signed a seven-year, $70 million contract with the club, which started in the 2021 season. They’ll be paying that off until at least 2025. That contract is starting to look like an ill-favored one for Yankees fans.
How Bad Is He Really?
The reality is that Hicks has struggled mightily in the last few seasons. At the plate, Hicks was in the lower half of all hitters in strikeout percentage, whiff percentage and hard hit percentage, according to Baseball Savant. Those numbers translated to the back of his baseball card, as he posted career worst in slugging percentage and grounded into a career high 10 double plays.
What’s really concerning is that in these past few years, Hicks translated one of his biggest strengths into one of his biggest weaknesses. Always known for a strong arm and high level defensive performance, Hicks has posted negative defensive runs saved since the start of 2018. He moved from center field to left field recently, and made one of the worst errors I’ve seen in a long time in 2022 against the Rays.
It was sequences like this one that led Hicks to lose his confidence. You can hear the boos raining down on him. In this game, Yankees fans were even calling for Joey Gallo instead of Hicks. Joey Gallo! The guy that Yankees fans hated!
What’s Next?
The Yankees actively looked to move on from Hicks in a couple different ways. They stuck Aaron Judge in center, where he was much better defensively than Hicks. New York traded for a new center fielder in Harrison Bader. They even rewarded Oswaldo Cabrera with a starting outfield position and rightfully so, as he was better with the bat than Hicks was.
Aaron Hicks role has completely diminished. If I was a betting man, I’d put down that this is more than likely his final season as a Yankee, as he made it clear that he wants to play everyday. It’s clear that both sides need to just end this pairing, if you’re the Yankees and Hicks. I don’t believe anyone is truly willing to trade much, or anything at all, for his services. I’d expect Hicks to be designated for assignment the way that it’s currently going in The Bronx.
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