When the Yankees traded cash to the Blue Jays in August of 2018 in exchange for Urshela, no one could have foreseen the impact he would have on the Bronx Bombers.
When Brian Cashman purchased Urshela from the Blue Jays in August, he knew he was getting a Gold Glove caliber third baseman as well as extensive organizational depth. What he (and no one else) expected was his breakout offensive ability.
New York Yankees Outfielder, Clint Frazier says he feels "Sorry for the guys who hit the ball in Gio's direction, because they have no shot of getting it by him. He's just unreal."
On the season, Urshela is slashing an outstanding .336 through 42 games for the New York Yankees.
Hitting Revolution
To his credit, Urshella has always hit well in the minors, and he hit well in the Yankees 2019 Spring Training camp, but what he didn't do is hit well in the majors. Gio Urshela didn't hit at all for Cleveland or Toronto. In 167 career games with Cleveland and Toronto the third baseman only hit a .225 with an OBP of .274 and an OPS of .589 (one of the worst slash lines from a non-pitcher in all of Major League Baseball.)
That's bad.
So what changed? With the Yankees, Urshella is hitting an impresive .336
with an OBP of .387 and an OPS of .848. For the first two months of the season, Gio has essentially been Jose Altuve, which is no easy feat.
Annalists explain that since Gio joined the Yankees, his hands are significantly lower in the strike zone than in the past years and and his feet are set apart more for a far more open batting stance.
The Yankees seem to have a talent for finding unknown contributors. Didi Gregorius, Domingo German, Tommy Kahnle, Luke Voit, and Gio Urshela were all under-the-rader pickups by the Yankees that have turned into big contributors.
Can Urshela keep it up? Can he continue to out-hit veterans like Manny Machado and Bryce Harper? Baseball history tells us probably not. But for now, he's fun to watch.
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