Using Many Players

I was just curious as to how many times each season, over the past decade, did the Yankees have a batter on their roster get at least 100 At Bats (ABs)? So, I looked. Here are the results:

Season – Number of Players on Team With at least 100 ABs (that year)

1996 – 14
1997 – 16
1998 – 13
1999 – 13
2000 – 15
2001 – 10
2002 – 13
2003 – 17
2004 – 14
2005 – 12

Interesting, in 2001, it was all about Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Alfonso Soriano, Chuck Knoblauch, Paul O’Neill, Jorge Posada, Scott Brosius, David Justice and Shane Spencer for the Yankees. Those ten guys did most of the batting for the team.

In 2003, the Yankees ran a lot of players to the dish. Here’s the gang with at least 100 ABs that season: Alfonso Soriano, Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Nick Johnson, Raul Mondesi, Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile, Aaron Boone
Ruben Sierra, Juan Rivera, Karim Garcia, Enrique Wilson, John Flaherty, and Erick Almonte.

For the record, the Yankees reached the World Series in both these seasons and lost each time.

On the whole, over the last 10 years, on average, the Yankees have had 13.7 batters each season get at least 100 ABs during the year.

This does make sense – figure 8 position players, a DH, and a back-up catcher, outfielder, and middle infielder (which totals 12) and allow for one more player to be traded or injured in a season. It’s easy to see how a team can reach 13 players with at least 100 ABs in a year.

How about 2006? The Yankees have 9 players this season already reach 100 ABs. And, there are four more players that should reach it soon. That would make 13. So, it looks like this years team is right about on pace with recent Yankees teams – in terms of the number of players used on a semi-regular basis.

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