Former Yankees Prospect Ben Ruta Slams The Organisation For Their Approach

After losing to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night, the New York Yankees’ record fell to.500; they are currently 6.5 games outside of the American League’s wild-card slot. Former prospect Ben Ruta provided some insight into the Yankees’ coaching philosophies in the live chat during an edition of Foul Territory.

Former Yankees Prospect Ben Ruta Slams The Organisation For Their Approach

Brian Cashman and the organization have been under a lot of criticism. The remarks made by Ruta also concern the just-fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson.

Ben Ruta, who worked for the Yankees organization from 2016 to 2021, made a statement regarding the minor league staff and Brian Cashman’s all-in approach to analytics during a segment of the “Foul Territory” podcast on Wednesday.

“Ben Ruta is in the chat right now … and he threw a few comments out there: Fully expect them to clear house in the minor leagues, all the coaches were brought in by [former hitting coach] Dillon Lawson and the analytics guys,” podcast host Scott Braun read on air.

Braun claimed that when he asked Ruta for an illustration, he cited spring training in 2020, which took place before the COVID shutdowns.

“Here’s all you need to know,” Ruta said. “In 2020, before COVID hit spring training we played a game called ‘pitchers vs hitters,’ the only way to score a point was to walk or hit a ball 95 mph-plus. There’s no baseball being taught there anymore. No baserunning, moving runners, fundamentals, etc.”

The former MLB prospect was dissatisfied with the New York Yankees throughout his time there. He said that since the squad decided to use analytics before the 2018 season, there was no actual coaching.

Ruta emphasized poor coaching by claiming that the players participated in a game of “pitchers versus hitters.” The only ways to gain a point were either walking or hitting a ball above 95 mph. He added that there were no basics or workouts for baserunning.

Ruta moved the conversation to X, the social networking site that replaced Twitter, to explain he wasn’t against the usage of statistics but would like to see it done better while still imparting the fundamentals of the game.

“I do believe there is a place in the game for analytics,” Ruta wrote. “It needs to be a healthy mix. It’s not a knock on the coaches they have. They were doing exactly what they were hired to do. The strategy of running an org like this is just dumb.”

The last time the New York Yankees had a.500 record this late in the season was 28 years ago. Few could have predicted this after Carlos Rodon and Aaron Judge were both re-signed in the off-season.

 

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