Some early notable Yankee-related stats

In covering for Moshe last-minute, I ran to Fangraphs to see if anything jumped out at me for a post idea, when low and behold, a quick scan of the leaderboards turned up some interesting statistical notes for the Yankees (and some non-Yankees):

• Bartholomew Colon currently has the ninth-most valuable fastball in the American League, at 4.9 runs above average. He’s one spot ahead of last night’s opponent (and noted gas machine) Justin Verlander. Tops in the AL? CC Sabathia.

• For all the ragging Derek Jeter received today through the various media outlets I peruse on a daily basis (and I’m certainly guilty of this myself), I thought it might be helpful to see if there was anything in Jeter’s statline that could be construed as encouraging. The only item of note is that Jeter hasn’t been abysmal against lefties thus far, posting a .338 wOBA in 30 plate appearances. Unfortunately that’s only roughly a quarter of his total plate appearances. Fortunately the Yankees are slated to see two lefties this weekend in Matt Harrison and Derek Holland.

• Speaking of pitchers the Yankees are facing this weekend, all three — Harrison, Holland and Alexi Ogando — currently rank in the top 11 in the American League in fastball velocity.

• Know who’s raking against lefties? Curtis Granderson, sporting a .408 wOBA.

• Alex Rodriguez‘s .267 BABIP is currently lower than any of his full-season averages. To echo Ben, get well soon, A-Rod.

• No one in the American League is coaxing a greater percentage of swings outside the zone than Dan Haren. A.J. Burnett ranks third and Sabathia fourth.

• Remember Travis Hafner? Apparently he finally remembered who he is, as he currently sports the 7th-best wOBA in the AL, at .408. Justin Smoak is walking in a whopping 16.1% of his plate appearances and ripping it up to the tune of a .388 wOBA.

• Miguel Cabrera is giving Jose Bautista a run for his early-AL-MVP money, leading the league in WPA, with Bautista a close second. Cabrera is also the proud owner of a .388/.450/.765 line in 111 career plate appearance against New York. Perhaps the Yankees should refrain from pitching to ol’ Miguel for the remainder of the week?

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