Didi is on a roll

Didi Gregorius, the Amsterdam born shortstop of the New York Yankees who is residing on Curaçao, is having a helluva start of the 2018 season. In the previous seasons, Didi always was a slow starter but from his second game this year, he is hitting very well.

What a difference this season is compared to his first one with the Yankees. Fans are embracing him. They love him. But during the first months with the Yankees, critical (spoiled) fans of the Yankees were far from happy with him. Sure a couple of baserunning boners did not help him with that. In his first year with the Yankees, Didi committed 13 errors in 155 games. In his second year, the number of errors went up a bit: 15 in 152 games.  Of course, us Dutch and Curaçaoan baseball fans knew what a special defender he was but it took the New York fans a while to realize it. Eventually, in 2017 he graded down the number of errors to 9 in a season.

Of course, Didi struggled at bat as well. It takes time to get used to a new environment. In his first full season with the D-Backs, Didi hit .252 but in his second full year, the club could not decide whether to play him at third base or at shortstop. He also platooned with Chris Owings. This indecisiveness of the D-Backs did not help Didi’s cause as his batting average dropped dramatically to .226.

Didi started the 2015 season (with the Yankees) slow but at the end of the campaign, he had raised his BA to a decent .265. Ever since he has managed to raise his batting average bit by bit every season. Last season he just came short of the .290 as he hit .287.

One of his weaknesses in the batter’s box was his problem hitting left-handed pitchers. But it must have been that he worked on the problem in the 2016-2017 offseason because all of a sudden he was able to hit lefties as well in 2017.
Another of his flaws was that, just like Derek Jeter, Didi chased a lot of first pitches. For
the first time since joining the Yankees, Didi isn’t doing that anymore. According to Romeo Coenraad, Didi’s trainer on Curaçao, nothing has changed regarding the training.
It is clear that Didi is learning from his mistakes. 

No matter what has happened to Didi, he is having a great start so far. He is red hot and

was riding an eight-game hitting streak. His best game so far was the one vs the Devil Rays on April 3rd. In that game, he went 4 for 4 with two home runs and eight RBI. But what about the game of April 24? 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBI. Of the 25 games he played so far this season, Didi did not manage to collect a hit in only seven games.

Next, to being a good defender and a good hitter, Didi has developed into a bonafide slugger as well.  So far he has hit ten dingers this season and that number will only improve this season. Last night on the road vs the Angels, Didi hit the game-winning home run. As a result, he got a curtain call (on the road!!).

One thing is sure, Didi has developed from a persona non grata into a fan favorite. Since he is a modest person, he will never talk about that in public, but it must feel a lot better to be cheered than to be booed.

To conclude this blog post, I’d like to thank Sheritsa Stroop for the much-needed information she provided.