Curtis Not-So-Granderson

Overall, Curtis Granderson did not have a grand 2012. 

• On the grand side of things, he hit 43 homers and drove home 106 runs.
• On the not-so-grand side, he hit .232 and struck out a whopping 195 times. 

How bad is that strikeout total?

Here are the five worst strikeout seasons in Yankee history

Rk	Player	SO	Year
1	Curtis Granderson	195	2012
2	Curtis Granderson	169	2011
3	Alfonso Soriano	157	2002
4	Danny Tartabull	156	1993
5	Jorge Posada	151	2000

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/19/2013.

You may have noticed that the Grandyman set Yankee records each of the last two seasons for whiffs.

Here are the MLB strikeout leaders over the last two seasons

Rk	Player	SO	From	To
1	Adam Dunn	399	2011	2012
2	Drew Stubbs	371	2011	2012
3	Curtis Granderson	364	2011	2012
4	Danny Espinosa	355	2011	2012
5	Mark Reynolds	355	2011	2012

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/19/2013. 

Granderson is getting killed on pitches outside the strike zone

The picture says plenty, it tells us that 26.9% of the pitches that Granderson swung at were out of the strike zone. And he missed on 43.9% of those.

Not surprisingly its the curveball that's Granderson is chasing, hitting .139 against it last season. And when he makes contact on pitches out of the strike zone, against curveballs he hit .029.

Curtis hit .248 before the All-Star break and was one of baseball's worst hitters for average after the break at .212. But he did hit 20 homers in 75 games with 58 RBI and that power is essential for the Yankees' success.

It's that desire to hit homers that gets Granderson into trouble. While some batters like the ball down and in, Granderson loves pitches on the fat part of the bat and outside pitches are clearly his weak point.

Here are his 2012 homers

When you look at the location of the pitches in which he hit for homers, you can see how he ends up chasing so many pitches out of the zone and the risk is high that he will end up with nothing.

You can be sure that the mantra that Granderson is hearing this spring from Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, is "See the ball. Hit the ball." because without that, Granderson, who is in his walk year, will end up with just another strikeout year.