NEW YORK — At a panel discussion in midtown-Manhattan Monday night with Yankees beat writers, a few fans asked questions about Stephen Drew and whether he would last the entire year or if the Yankees would make a change at second base.
Their reasons were because he took a .168 average into Tuesday and they were not sold on manager Joe Girardi’s constant explanations of him hitting into tough-luck or making hard outs.
On Tuesday, those fans saw why Drew still is on the team as he hit two solo home runs in a 6-1 win over the Washington Nationals.
On a homestand when Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols have homered against the Yankees, Drew has four home runs. Of his 31 hits, nine have gone over the fence.
“His hits are extremely productive, that’s the bottom line,” Girardi said after Drew’s fourth career multi-home run game and second on the homestand. “He’s swung the bat well. He’s swinging the bat well and hopefully he’s over that point where he hits the ball hard and they’re hits. I thought he had some bad luck. He made that little adjustment and it seemed to help.”
Drew is still hitting .175 but has six hits in his last 24 at-bats. When asked about some of the improvement at the plate, he has cited an unspecified mechanical adjustment he made while getting two days off in Oakland.
“It’s just working on things, looking on at-bats, going back and really trying not to do too much and trying to clear my head and give the best chance I have up there,” Drew said. “I played this game for a long time and trust myself. The good thing is a little adjustment here and it’s paid dividends.”