YANKEES SIGN OUTFIELDER AARON HICKS TO SEVEN-YEAR CONTRACT

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Updated: February 26, 2019

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The New York Yankees today announced that they have signed outfielder Aaron Hicksto a seven-year contract extending through the 2025 season, with a club option for the 2026 season. This contract replaces his one-year contract for 2019 that was previously announced on January 11.

Over the last two seasons (2017-18), Hicks has posted a .838 OPS with a .368 on-base percentage and is one of just eight American League players over the stretch to reach both of those marks with at least 200 games played, along with Jose Altuve, Mookie Betts, Alex Bregman, Aaron Judge, J.D. Martinez, José Ramirez and Mike Trout.

Among Major League outfielders over the last two seasons (2017-18), his 8.2 WAR (FanGraphs) ranks 12th, including sixth among centerfielders.

In 2018, Hicks, 29, hit .248 (119-for-480) with 90 runs scored, 18 doubles, 3 triples, 27 home runs, 79 RBI, 90 walks and 11 stolen bases in 137 games (129 starts in CF, 2 at DH) in his third season with the Yankees. He set career highs in runs scored, hits, home runs, extra-base hits (48), RBI and walks, as well as WAR (4.9, FanGraphs), which placed him third among all centerfielders. He was fifth in the Majors (min. 500 plate appearances) with a 15.5% walk rate and his 20.9% chase rate was seventh-lowest. He also drew 49 walks after the All-Star break, tied for the most in the American League.

Only two other Major League switch-hitters in 2018 hit as many as Hicks’ 27 home runs (Cleveland’s José Ramirez-39 and Francisco Lindor-38), and his total was the highest by a switch-hitting centerfielder (min. half of games at the position) since Carlos Beltrán hit 27 home runs in 2008. He also became the seventh switch-hitter in Yankees history to reach 25 home runs in a season, joining Mickey Mantle (10 times), Bernie Williams (5), Mark Teixeira (4), Tom Tresh (3), Jorge Posada (2) and Nick Swisher (2). He excelled from both sides of the plate, compiling a 132 wRC+ as a left-handed batter and a 116 mark as a right-handed batter (weighted runs created plus; 100 is league-average).

Hicks was the fourth centerfielder (min. half of games at the position) in American League history to post a season with at least 25 home runs and a walk rate of 15.0% or better, joining Mickey Mantle (9 times), Mike Trout (4) and Larry Doby (2).

Defensively, Hicks’ outfield assist to erase Oakland’s Danny Valencia at home plate on April 20, 2016 was clocked at 105.5 mph, which remains the Statcast-era record for the fastest throw on a Major League field.

Hicks hit two inside-the-park homers in 2018 (April 13 at Detroit and May 19 at Kansas City), to become to first Yankee since Mickey Mantle (three in 1958) to have more than one in a single season. Then on July 1 vs. Boston, he became the 21^st Yankee and first leadoff hitter in franchise history to hit at least three home runs in a regular season game, going 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, two solo home runs and a walk in an 11-1 victory.

Over six Major League seasons, including his first three with Minnesota (2013-15), Hicks owns a .236 (454-for-1,927) batting average with 283 runs scored, 79 doubles, 10 triples, 70 home runs, 240 RBI, 265 walks, 50 stolen bases, a .328 on-base percentage and a .724 OPS in 595 career games.

A native of California, he was originally selected by Minnesota in the first round (14th pick overall) of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft and was acquired by the Yankees in exchange for C John Ryan Murphy on November 11, 2015.

SOURCE: Michael Margolis, New York Yankees