If you're a baseball fan between the ages of alive and dead, you are no doubt aware of Derek Jeter. And if you are aware of Derek Jeter, you are no doubt aware of the fact that he hasn't been quite what he used to be. He batted a very famous .270 for the Yankees a season ago, and while the 36-year-old was re-signed to an expensive long-term contract in December, Yankees fans were concerned, and observers around baseball wondered if Jeter would be able to inject some life back into his bat.
Derek Jeter’s Numbers Showing No Signs Of Improvement
Jeter had just batted .334 the season before, in 2009. Jeter’s 2009 OPS was actually one of the best of his career. He worked on making some tweaks to his swing with Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, and the hope was that Jeter would be quicker to the ball, allowing him to get back to his previous level of success. He wasn’t that far separated from being a good hitter, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get him back, the theory went.
Well, it’s still very early in 2011, but the signs thus far aren’t positive. Jeter has reportedly pretty much ditched the adjustments he made with Long, and he currently stands with just seven hits in 34 at bats, with a double and no home runs.
But looking beyond the batting average, we see something even more troubling. The following table shows you Jeter’s groundball percentage over the years. This is simply the ratio of groundballs to all balls Jeter has put in play.
| Year | GB% |
| 2007 | 56% |
| 2008 | 58% |
| 2009 | 57% |
| 2010 | 66% |
| 2011 | 79% |
During his successful years - those being pretty much all of his career - Jeter would have his groundball rate hover around the mid- to high-50s. Last year, it jumped to the highest mark of Jeter’s life, and so far in 2011 it’s only more extreme. According to Fangraphs, Jeter has put 29 balls in play so far this season, and 23 of them have stayed on the ground.
Groundball rate is a statistic that tends to stabilize quickly, so this is troubling because it shows that Jeter has been beating the ball into the dirt. He’s always been something of a groundball hitter, but now he’s only very seldom getting any lift on the ball at all. Not only does that make it harder to hit singles; it makes it harder to hit doubles, triples and home runs. Jeter’s batted ball profile is that of a man who’s facing almost impossible odds of success.
This trend has to be reversed if Jeter wants to make a positive contribution to the Yankees’ everyday lineup. It being so early in the season, we can’t say for sure whether or not that 79% groundball rate is significant, but it certainly isn’t anywhere close to where Jeter or the Yankees would like it to be. From the looks of things, he needs to make adjustments. He needs to make adjustments and stick with them in an effort to get closer to the batted ball profile he used to put up. Even the 2010 mark would be a welcome feat given where Jeter is now, but realistically, he needs to go even further. A successful Derek Jeter isn’t a Derek Jeter who puts two-thirds of his balls in play on the ground.
We’ll see how this plays out. No matter what happens with Jeter, he’ll receive no shortage of attention. But for Yankees fans and team officials hoping that Jeter might shake off a rough 2010 and get back to business, the early signs are anything but encouraging. Something is wrong, and it won’t be an easy fix.
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