Mike Tauchman has been a fantastic find for the Yankees, especially considering that he came to the team on a trade involving a fringe left-handed pitching prospect. From a value standpoint, it doesn’t matter if he has been somewhat lucky to this point: The Bombers have received 1.8 fWAR so far from the outfielder, and that makes the transaction worthwhile.
For the sake of trying to predict future performance, however, the legitimacy of Tauchman’s performance so far merits consideration, especially at a time in which injuries continue to pile up.
xwOBA isn’t as kind as wOBA
Again, Tauchman has been an amazing find by the Yankees’ analytics department and front office, but this exercise is about trying to use exit velocity (EV,) launch angles (LA) and plate discipline information to determine “expected outcomes.