Luke Voit confident he can return to form after tough injury
Yankees first baseman Luke Voit leaves the field after the first inning during a spring training game against the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Fla., on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.
You remember Luke Voit as the open-collar, neck chain-swinging, beer keg of a first baseman who brought as much swagger as swat to the Yankees’ muscular lineup.
Then Voit describes what life was like immediately after his late October surgery to repair bilateral core injuries, a procedure that reattached six of his core ligaments, three on each side.
If you wondered where Voit’s power went during the second half of last season, it disappeared when that connective tissue snapped. In terms of hitting ability, Voit basically was chopped in half, and putting him back together was no picnic, either.
“The first week after that surgery is brutal,” Voit said before Sunday’s 9-7 loss to the Rays. “I couldn’t get into bed. My wife had to lift my legs out. I couldn’t walk. I had to get a drain put in. It sucks. I don’t wish it upon anybody.”
Maybe the only thing worse, in Voit’s mind, was enduring what he did before being made whole again, that and hitting .228 with four homers and a .368 slugging percentage in his final 40 pain-filled games.
Robbed of his flex, he couldn’t do much more than fill out his pinstriped uniform, a struggle that began with a fateful double in the London series in June.
“Yeah, I think that was kind of the last string of, you know, that area down there that finally gave out,” Voit said. “I think I was compensating for it over a long time and that was the last string that was holding on.”
Put that way, it’s a wonder Voit was able to tie his cleats, never mind take a few hacks. It also explains why he looks so relieved now. After rehabbing in the offseason, he said he feels the best he has in years, probably because his core was gradually disintegrating before reaching critical mass in London.
And yet Voit was able to smack 31 homers and drive in 83 runs in only 425 at-bats in the first 117 games of his Yankees career, stretched over less than two half-seasons.
A year ago at this time, Voit was locked in a first-base competition with Greg Bird, and though Voit had the inside track, it still was a matter of earning the job. Bird now is with the Rangers, and despite Voit’s own injury-marred finish to the season, he doesn’t think it’s a matter of proving himself all over again.
That’s not entirely true. The Yankees do have other first-base options. The fact that Mike Ford, a lefty hitter on a righty-heavy roster, did a good Voit impression last season (12 homers, .909 OPS in 50 games) should be enough to get on the radar.
But a healthy Voit doesn’t lack in confidence. When asked Sunday about the potential need to re-establish himself after limping to the finish, he expressed zero doubt.
“Oh, no, not really,” Voit said. “Honestly, I’m going to go off of what I did in the first half last year. Just go back and be myself, bringing energy and have fun.”
And what does a fully functioning core mean for him now?
“Well, I can finally run again,” Voit said. “I’m not saying I’m gonna steal 20 bases this year but . . . and when I’m swinging, I’m staying in my lower half now. [Before] I didn’t have my legs, and my legs are everything when I’m hitting, so I didn’t have any power. Me being a power hitter — I wasn’t in the second half.”
Voit no longer is No. 45. He surrendered it to the Yankees’ newly minted $324 million man, Gerrit Cole, and both players have chosen to keep the terms of the swap a secret (“That’s between me and him,” Voit said).
That number didn’t have any special significance to Voit — the Yankees simply had the jersey hanging in his locker — but his current No. 59 is a much different story.
Voit chose it to honor his little brother, John, who wore 59 as a captain of the football team at West Point and now is training as an Army Ranger at Fort Drum in upstate New York.
“I’m excited to keep it in the family and recognize him,” Voit said.
On the verge of a new season, it’s all coming together for Voit, who’s pretty happy about starting the year back in one strong, sturdy piece.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
