The former Yankees' shortstop blasted the team's sloppy play in 2019.
2019 Quote From Beloved Yankees Shortstop Didi Gregorius Seems to Predict Current Struggles originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The olden days of Didi Gregorius, Todd Frazier, Chase Headley and Greg Bird seem to feel awfully far away with the Yankees - increasingly motivated by a one-dimensional offense and undeterred from sloppy fundamentals - on a trajectory that may cause them to miss the playoffs.
Not to revise history, but the Yankees, in their underdog 2017 season, were grounded by good baseball, where players hit to their roles and in big spots.
Just two years later, in 2019, Gregorius reportedly fumed to his Yankee teammates how bad the minor league system had gotten by way of lack of fundamentals - a sadly prescient belief given what has been happening right now.
Erik Boland, the Yankees' beat writer for Newsday Sports, recalled in an interview with Foul Territory hearing from Gregorius' teammates that when the shortstop was rehabbing in 2019, he told them: "You wouldn't believe some of the sh*t going on in our minor leagues," as it related to lack of stress on fundamentals.
Boland talked about opposing scouts who watch the Yankees, and their opinion on what is emphasized as players rise through the farm system.
"From the bottom levels all the way up through Triple-A, fundamentals are not stressed," Boland said. "It's all about exit velocity, spin rate, drive line, all of the things that have become a big part of the sport in the past decade."
Boland added, "There's not an emphasis on actually playing the game well, instinctually. You can't measure that, but you know it when you see it, or when you don't."
The Yankees, and manager Aaron Boone, have been increasingly under fire for their perceived lackluster response to poor fundamentals, head-scratching base-running mistakes, and a culture that doesn't seem to respond or take accountability for such lapses.
"The Yankees have been a poor fundamental team for years now," Boland added. "This is an organizational problem, it's not an Aaron Boone problem."
Obviously, the focus for the Yankees has and will always be on big names, but as fans shell out increasing amounts of money for ticket prices, they don't want to see games that the Yankees lose on their own ineptitude.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Baseball
