Under the Hood: Chris Stewart

Chris Stewart crosses home plate in 2012 (The Associated Press Photo)

The Yankees traded for Chris Stewart before the season began, and they were focusing more on his defensive skills rather than his offensive skills.

Stewart has been behind the plate for the Yankees ace, C.C. Sabathia. Joe Girardi has stated that Stewart is not Sabathia's personal catcher, although Stewart has caught every start of Sabathia's besides Opening Day.

The Yankees weren't expecting much from Chris when he was at the plate. Stewart had a .204 batting average in 67 games for the Giants last year. He drove in 10 runs and had 33 hits in 162 at bats.

In his last 7 games, Stewart is posting a .375 batting average with 3 hits in 8 plate appearances. He has 2 doubles and has scored 1 run.

On the season, Stewart has played 20 games. In those 20 games, he has a .263 batting average with 15 hits in 57 plate appearances. He has drove in 7 runs and scored 6 runs. He has 3 doubles and 0 homeruns. 

Here is his line up to this point: .263/.276/.316/.592. (AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS)

You might be thinking that those numbers are below average, well those numbers are coming from a guy that starts every 5th day, or in some cases, a day game after a night game.

Francisco Cervelli batting in 2011. (Getty Images)

If you go back one year ago, Francisco Cervelli was the Yankees backup catcher. On June 21st, 2011, the Yankees were playing the Reds in Cincinnati. The game was postponed and there was a double header on June 22nd.

On June 22nd, 2011, Francisco Cervelli had started 20 games and had a .175 batting average. He drove in 11 runs and had scored 6 runs. He had 15 hits in 54 plate appearances. He has 2 doubles and a homerun.

Here is his line up to that point: .175/.238/.263/.501 (AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS)

Chris Stewart has a .993% fielding percentage this year and has thrown out 33% of the runners that attempt to steal on his. So far, he has thrown out 3 runners this year and 6 runner have stolen off of him. The league average is 27%.

If you all remember, Cervelli had a tough time throwing runners out. Last year, Cervelli through out 14% of the runners that were stealing. The league average last year was 28%. He allowed 24 runners to steal off of him and he only threw out 4 runners. His fielding percentage was .980. These stats are his total at the end of the year.

With many criticizing the move to send Francisco Cervelli down to the minor leagues before the season, maybe the move to acquire Chris Stewart will work in the Yankees favor.

In my defense, i am a Francisco Cervelli fan. I'm just saying that by looking at the stats, Chris Stewart has made a bigger impact than Francisco Cervelli had at this point last year.

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