In an ideal world, the Yankees’ roster is better without Josh Donaldson on it. While his 2023 struggles warrant getting cut loose, it sounds like New York is sticking with him for the time being. We’ll see how long that actually lasts, though.
But if that’s the case, they might as well try to get him going, right? That would make the most sense, but I guess New York can’t let him get too hot. If you’re wondering why, it’s because the Bombers are winless when Donaldson goes yard so far this season. Seriously.
The veteran third baseman has struggled at the dish through his first 75 plate appearances. It includes a .132 batting average and a .200 on-base percentage. However, he’s still posted a .400 slugging percentage thanks to registering seven home runs (his only extra-base hits thus far).
Donaldson has hit at least one homer in six different games this year (he had one multi-homer game in Los Angeles). The Yankees have lost every single one of those games:
- April 1st vs. Giants: 7-5 loss
- June 2nd vs. Dodgers: 8-4 loss
- June 6th vs. White Sox: 3-2 loss
- June 9th vs. Red Sox: 3-2 loss
- June 16th vs. Red Sox: 15-5 loss
- June 27th vs. Athletics: 2-1 loss
This is one of those stats that you just can’t make up, folks. Even when Donaldson does something good to contribute to the bottom line for the Yankees, they still come up short. Just another reason why they should ask him to pack his bags, right?
Someone needs to let Mike Francesa know about this statistic. Based on his latest Yankees rant, my guess is he’ll have a thing or two to say about it. But that’s just a hunch, I can’t be sure of that (wink).
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
