The Yankees are in the middle of a brutal run, and the last few weeks have made it hard to tell what’s a temporary dip and what’s a real problem. New York has dropped 15 of its last 20 games, and a seven-game losing streak was part of that slide, including a sweep at Fenway Park by the Boston Red Sox - a 2026 low point.
The offense has felt the loss of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, and Max Fried being out has only made things tougher. On top of that, some of the rotation has started to look worn down in the middle of the season.
But the Yankees still have plenty of regulars on the field, and a few of them need to be doing more. Two players in particular are raising real concern, while two others look like they’re due to snap out of it soon.
Camilo Doval is one of the names that should have Yankees fans uneasy. His July 1 outing, when he walked three batters in one inning and took the loss, put his command issues right back in the spotlight.
It also revived frustration with Aaron Boone’s willingness to keep leaning on him despite the inconsistency, almost in a Volpian sort of way. Doval has yet to show any real steadiness in a Yankees uniform, and that’s a problem for a team hoping to make a serious World Series push once Judge returns.
The bigger issue is whether Boone will eventually pull back on that trust. Right now, the answer still looks like no.
Austin Wells is another case where the numbers are too ugly to ignore. He’s hitting .148 this season and .211 for his MLB career, which leaves very little room for optimism based on what he’s shown so far.
Some Yankees observers, including New York Post's Joel Sherman, think Wells would benefit from a demotion. New York would probably take that, too, as long as it can line up another catcher before the deadline.
Boone doesn’t get a free pass here either, with some suggesting he’s been too lenient with Wells over the last full calendar year of poor play.
Not every slump deserves the same level of alarm, though. Cody Bellinger looks like a player who’s simply running out of gas, not losing his edge.
He’s hit .196 over his last 30 games, but that stretch comes after the kind of start that had him looking like an MVP candidate for the first few months of the season. His overall numbers are still solid because of that early surge.
With Judge, Stanton and others sidelined, the load on Bellinger has only grown. He’s been comfortable in Yankees pinstripes since arriving last season, and this feels like a fatigue issue more than anything else.
He should be back in top form by August at the latest.
Ben Rice also belongs in the “don’t panic” category. He’s already launched two home runs over his last three games, which is a pretty clear sign that the slump is starting to loosen its grip.
His recent line - .179 over the last 15 games and .217 over the last 30 games - isn’t pretty, but Rice has too much hitting ability to stay down for long. The Rays series is already showing signs of that turnaround.
The Yankees still need it to happen quickly if they want to climb out of the hole they’ve dug.
In Other News...
Yankees Suddenly Have A Veteran Problem They Cant Ignore
The Yankees latest series loss to Tampa Bay did more than trim their margin in the standings. It underscored how quickly a season can tilt when the lineup goes cold, the star players are either banged up or not producing, and the pressure starts building from the top down. New York is five games out of first place now, and the offensive slump that has dragged on since mid-June has left Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman trying to patch together answers while the calendar keeps moving toward the Aug. 3 deadline.
Since June 18, no club has been worse, and the numbers from the Rays series only sharpened the concern around a roster that looks thin in too many spots. Hal Steinbrenner has stayed out of the public conversation as the slump deepens, but the front office cannot afford the same silence when the Yankees still need help in several places and the margin for error is shrinking by the day. [Read more 🡒]
A Forgotten Yankees Prospect From 2016 Is Back For The Worst Reason
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The path since that Yankees era has already been a winding one, with the right-hander eventually reaching the majors elsewhere and then bouncing through a fluctuating career that never quite matched the early expectations. For Yankees fans, it is another of those familiar what-if stories, only this time the headline is less about unrealized talent than the latest setback for a player who has been trying to hang on. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Linked To A Deadline Bat Yankees Could Also Chase
With the trade deadline approaching, the Yankees are among the clubs expected to look for offense, and the market may not offer many clean fits. Second base is especially thin, which makes the search trickier for teams trying to add a bat without creating a new hole somewhere else. In that kind of landscape, the appeal of a productive middle infielder becomes obvious, even if the fit is not perfect.
The challenge is balancing what he brings at the plate with what he gives back in the field. His defensive work at second base has drawn some questions, and for a contender that already has to weigh every move against October expectations, that matters. If the Yankees decide they need more contact and stability in the lineup, they will have to decide how much they are willing to live with on the other side of the ball. [Read more 🡒]