Yankees’ Recent Woes: Mid-season Melancholy

The New York Yankees, a franchise synonymous with winning and unparalleled success, are currently navigating a tumultuous period in their 2025 season. What began with high hopes and championship aspirations has slowly devolved into a palpable sense of mid-season melancholy, leaving fans and pundits alike questioning the team’s trajectory. It’s a redundant story that fans have seen the past few years.

The early months of the season, while not entirely without their struggles, offered glimmers of the dominant force that have caused the Bronx Bombers to earn their name. However, as the calendar flipped to June, the team’s performance has noticeably deteriorated. A once formidable pitching staff, lauded for its depth and individual talent, has shown signs of vulnerability, with key starters struggling to consistently go deep into games and the bullpen, once a reliable shutdown unit, now frequently conceding crucial runs. Injuries to pivotal players have undoubtedly played a role, disrupting team chemistry and forcing manager Aaron Boone to constantly shuffle his lineup.

Offensively, the Yankees have been a shadow of their usual power-hitting selves. While there have been occasional explosions of home runs, the team has struggled with consistency at the plate, particularly in clutch situations. Batters have frequently been left stranded on base, and the ability to string together hits and produce runs when it matters most has been conspicuously absent. The once feared lineup now often looks disjointed, with a lack of productive at-bats hindering their ability to mount sustained rallies. This is especially apparent with the lineup construction. It’s not the same 3 days in a row. In the 90s during the dynasty era, you could always expect Jeter to bat second, and Bernie Williams to hit somewhere in the middle. Now, the only thing to expect is that Aaron Judge will hit somewhere in the 2 or 3 spot. Everything else is a crap shoot.

Defensively, fundamental errors and lapses in concentration have become more common, leading to unearned runs and frustrating setbacks. These uncharacteristic mistakes have further exacerbated the team’s struggles, turning winnable games into disheartening losses.

The last few weeks for the Yankees have not exactly been a highlight reel. This team, which usually carries itself with that undeniable championship swagger, has been looking a bit lost out there. It’s a tough pill to swallow for fans, seeing crucial errors, missed chances, and a striking lack of clutch hitting become the norm. This extended slump isn’t just messing with their standing; it’s messing with their vibe as a perennial contender. The mid-season slump has not only affected their standing in the division (they’ve slipped into 2nd place for the first time since April 30) but has also begun to raise doubts about their ability to contend for a World Series title.

So, who’s not pulling their weight? Let’s dive into the stats over the past 30 days, because the numbers don’t lie. There’s been a noticeable dip in production from some key guys, and it’s definitely hurting the team’s overall game.

Struggling Players and Their Stats (Last 30 Days)

Oswald Peraza: Peraza has been struggling mightily at the plate, evidenced by his dismal slash line. His high strikeout rate and even worse numbers in the last 7 games indicate a significant downturn in his offensive production, failing to provide the spark the Yankees need from the infield. Similarly, his defense has not been great, with a fielding percentage of .973 at 3B as his best performance on the field.

Paul Goldschmidt: A veteran presence, Goldschmidt’s bat has gone cold, impacting the team’s ability to drive in runs. While his power hasn’t completely vanished (3 HR in 30 days is not great), his low batting average of .232 and on-base percentage of .333 mean that he’s not getting on-base enough to make a significant offensive impact. That said, the Yankees will still play Goldy daily (with a few off-days given his age), even with a cold bat because of his Gold Glove defense at 1B.

Anthony Volpe: Volpe has earned the ire of fans lately after a number of botched plays at SS, plus his poor offensive performance.  Volpe’s performance has mirrored the team’s struggles, with a low batting average and high strikeout rate, but his issues are a bit more elevated considering the way he has been lauded by Brian Cashman and others within the Yankees front office.

If we're talking up Yankees PD, Volpe is hitting .122/.241/.245/.486 in the last 15 games, plus Wells is hitting .184/.226/.306/.532 in the last 15 games.

I'm as big of a prospect hugger as you'll find, but they gotta figure it out. AAA depth isn't spectacular either. https://t.co/0Ru1HDAN34

— John Brophy (@jbrophybaseball) July 2, 2025

Despite occasional flashes of greatness, Volpe’s overall offensive and defensive output has been incredibly inconsistent, leaving a void at a crucial position.

Austin Wells: Wells recently was announced to have an arterial injury to his left index finger (his glove hand), so that may be a part of his dismal performance. However, that doesn’t account for poor swing decisions and a high strikeout rate of over ⅓ of at-bats. While still not spectacular, Wells has the best performance of the pack, as the only one of the 4 hitting over .200 in the last 30 games.

JT Brubaker: Brubaker had done well after returning from a multi-year IL stint with back-to-back injuries, including recovering from Tommy John surgery, but allowing 4 ER in ⅓ of an inning to the Athletics is unacceptable. The trade for Brubaker is a little curious because he’s never been a stellar reliever, with a career ERA of 5.04 in 319.1 IP.

Marcus Stroman: While it may not necessarily be fair to add Stroman to the mix given his extended IL stint, Stroman’s appearances have this year been disastrous, marked by a high ERA and a concerning number of earned runs and walks. However, his latest start on June 29 versus the A’s is more of the Stroman we’ve been looking for.

Mark Leiter Jr.: Leiter Jr. has been a significant liability out of the bullpen, with an inflated ERA of 7.56 and a concerning WHIP of 2.52. His struggles to get outs and limit baserunners have put added pressure on the rest of the pitching staff, highlighting a major weakness in the late innings.

Will Warren: Warren did rather well for the bulk of June, throwing a 2.86 ERA in 28.1 IP, and has good K/9 and BB/9 numbers (10.8 and 3.5, respectively). However, his latest outing in Toronto was a total disaster. Warren allowed 8 runs, all earned, on 10 hits and 4 walks in 4 innings of work, while striking out 4 batters. It’s fair to say that he’s young and still figuring things out, but that only goes so far.

What’s next?

It’s hard to say, to be honest. The front office needs to “read the room”, take some accountability and make some necessary moves.

Some fans say the Yankees should send down Anthony Volpe to Triple-A (he has 3 options available), if for no other reason than to send a message. When looking at the minor league depth, the first hitter that sticks out is Jorbit Vivas. He hit .253 in July with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but did about as well as Peraza has been doing lately. That’s not much of an upgrade. “Squid”, aka Andrew Velazquez has done well lately, but that may also not translate well to the Majors. Velazquez has a career MLB slash of .189/.244/.537. That’s not going to create the offensive boost they need. Realistically, the Yankees are going to stick it out with Volpe.

Sure, they have their top prospect, George Lombard, Jr. waiting in the wings down in Double-A, but the kid just got there. He’s nowhere near ready for the Majors, despite making some incredible defensive plays this year between Spring Training and Somerset. Lombard hit .216/.327/.381 in June, his first full month of Double-A. He’s not currently a viable option to replace Volpe, Peraza or Vivas at short.

If there was any kind of viable option in the Minors, it’s to DFA Peraza (he’s out of options) and call up Jesus Rodriguez.

Jesus Rodriguez is essentially the ultimate utility player, something the Yankees are lacking with Oswaldo Cabrera injured. Rodriguez has played every position in the infield except for SS, has played the corner outfield positions both with the Yankees system and in the LVBP (Venezuelan winter ball), but is a natural catcher and first-baseman. Rodriguez slashed .247/.362/.315 in June and has 24 RBI in 60 games in Triple-A. Additionally, Rodriguez is on the 40-man, so the Yankees wouldn’t have to make any significant moves aside from moving Peraza.

With this move, you could theoretically have Rodriguez play either 3B or 1B, and you could move Chisholm to 2B (where he truly belongs) and LeMahieu to 1B/3B alternately.

Is it ideal? No, of course not. The Yankees need to have a big trade deadline. All prospects outside of George Lombard Jr. need to be made available, and the Yankees need to get a better deal than a one-year rental. The Yankees front office needs to take advantage of the great talent they have in a majority of the roster, and need to get a World Series ring on Aaron Judge’s finger.

The fifteen-year drought needs to come to an end, and Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman need to find a way to return this organization to the glory we experienced nearly 30 years ago.