Curtis Granderson has not exactly lit the world on fire with his bat in 2010. His line of .249/.320/.441 does not inspire a great deal of confidence. While Granderson's wOBA (.335) grades out as league-average, he is certainly a weakness in the Yankees' line-up. In addition, Granderson's anemic bat against left-handed pitching (.239/.288/.341) has forced Joe Girardi to sit Granderson in favor of a line-up that has Brett Gardner shifting from left to center field and slotting Austin Kearns into left. There have been some bright spots in Granderson's game, however.
What should be encouraging is that Granderson has retained at least some of the power that he flashed in 2009, when he smashed 30 home runs and put up a .204 ISO. In 2010, Granderson has posted an ISO of .193. Skeptics will say that homer-friendly Yankee Stadium is inflating Granderson's ISO, but Granderson's home ISO is .197; his away ISO is .187 (for those interested, Granderson's ISO against RHP is .237; by comparison, his ISO against LHP is a miniscule .103).
What is also good news for the Yankees is that Granderson appears to be doing a good job of playing center field. Granderson has made quite a few dazzling plays in center, and to an extent, the statistics are verifying what our eyes are seeing. Granderson's UZR/150 is 5.3, on par with his career average of 4.1 UZR/150, and the Fans' Scouting Report also rates Granderson favorably (by contrast, Baseball-Reference's TotalZone has Granderson at -4, but I am more confident with UZR). With the combined league-average bat and above-average fielding, Granderson has provided some value for the Yankees; he has racked up 2.2 Wins Above Replacement in only 391 Plate Appearances. While Yankees fans would love it if Granderson figured out left-handed pitching, he has been far from a black hole on this Yankee team in 2010.
The real concern lies in how Granderson will perform in the future. Granderson has already justified his 2010 salary ($5.5 million); according to Fangraphs, Granderson has already generated $8.9 million in value from his play. But will Granderson ever figure out southpaws? If he has yet to learn to hit LHP at age 29, he probably will never learn how. Fortunately for the Yankees, Granderson's contract is fairly team-friendly (Granderson is owed $8.25 MM for 2011, $10 MM, and the team holds a 2013 option for $13 MM w/$2 MM buyout). But if Granderson's defense starts to take a dive as he ages and he no longer will be able to play center, that contract will start to look bad for the Yankees: it is not ideal to fill a roster-spot with a corner outfielder that can't hit lefties and is making $10 million.
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