On July 28th, 2018, the New York Yankees traded pitchers Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for international signing bonus pool money and first baseman Luke Voit.
Looking back on that trade now, it was an absolute steal.
Voit has arguably been the best Yankee this season, leading the way with clutch hits and stellar hitting performances while the Yankees patiently wait for important players to come off of the Injured List.
Since September 19th, 2018, Luke Voit has reached base in 41 consecutive games, tying Derek Jeter for third longest Yankees on-base streak since 2000, and putting him only one behind Mark Teixeira and Bernie Williams for the second-longest streak at 42 consecutive games.
He has also collected an American League Player of the Week honors for his performance over the week of April 22nd to the 28th, as he hit .433 with 10 runs, four homers, and 10 RBIs.
On the Yankees’ just-completed road trip, in which they went 6-3, Voit carried the offense while hitting .389 in 36 at-bats with five homers and 11 RBI in the nine games, continuing his offensive production following being named AL Player of the Week.
With Voit’s stats so far this year, those being nine home runs, 26 runs batted in, 31 hits, and 19 walks, Voit is in some amazing company. Per Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) on Twitter, the only other Yankees to reach each of those totals in the team’s first 30 games of the year were Babe Ruth five times, Mickey Mantle in 1955 and 1961, and Lou Gehrig in 1930 and 1934. Voit is listed with some of the greatest players to ever play the game of baseball, showing his dominance so early in the season.
Since Luke Voit has joined the Yankees, there are only three players with a higher wOBA (Weighted On Base Average) than him: Christian Yelich, Mike Trout, and Cody Bellinger. Again, Voit is in some great company, with some of the best players in baseball right now.
As per Bryan Hoch, at the end of the week that Voit was given Player of the Week honors for, Voit gave some credit to using his teammate Miguel Andujar’s bats.
Luke Voit has been using Miguel Andujar’s bat since the last homestand. “There’s a lot of hits in it,” he said.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) April 29, 2019
There must be some luck in those bats, as they have continued to help Voit with his on-base streak.
Yankees fans hope that Luke Voit can continue to rake this year, as he has been one of the most reliable players on the roster thus far. Also, with the number of players on the Injured List, the Yankees need everyone possible to step up and play to the best of their ability throughout the whole season.
Featured Image: Seth Wenig - Associated Press
