105.5 MPH

Aaron Hicks has a cannon.

When the Yankees acquired him, the book on Hicks was that he was a great defender, but hadn’t reached his potential with the bat. From what I’ve seen in a 25-day sample size, I get it.

To be fair, he hasn’t had regular at bats, so it’s tough to get in a groove. But his defense is elite.

Last week, I was actively rooting for the ball to get hit to him to see his arm in action. He threw several guys out in spring training, and carried that over into the season. By now, most of you may have seen his 105.5 MPH cannon to throw out a runner at the plate:

Before that, he had another strong through that Brian McCann didn’t handle. Then, the next night, he gunned down a runner trying to go for a double. I don’t think it was even his best throw, but he nailed the runner by a good 6-8 feet.

Next month, the Yanks should have two players who throw well over 100 playing at the same time – Aroldis Chapman and Hicks. That should be fun.

I picked up a cheap auto of Hicks on COMC during a recent splurge, and look forward to eventually adding a Yankees auto of him. I really hope he develops into a solid everyday OFer.