BALTIMORE — Aaron Hicks left the Yankees more than a month ago after he had played sparingly this season and continued to draw the wrath of the fans in The Bronx following a long stretch marred by injuries and poor performance.
He will return to Yankee Stadium on Monday with the Orioles, with which he is playing regularly and putting up some of his best numbers in years for a team that’s in second place in the AL East.
When the Yankees released Hicks, they were still on the hook for about $27 million over the next three years from the seven-year, $70 million extension he signed in February 2019.
Back then, Hicks had the same expectations the Yankees did: to be the type of player he was in 2018 when he hit 27 homers in 137 games.
“I wanted to be that guy,” Hicks said at Camden Yards this weekend. “A guy that consistently produced every single year.”
Instead, he has not matched those numbers since.
By the end of Hicks’ time in The Bronx, he knew a change was coming, and it ultimately occurred when he was designated for assignment on May 20, when the Yankees were in Cincinnati.
“I wasn’t shocked, because I felt like I already saw the way they were going,’’ Hicks said. “I assumed something was coming because everyone that came up [from the minors] seemed to pass me over. I would still be in the same role-playing against some lefties. … I assumed that was gonna continue and I’d never really get a consistent opportunity to play and take over the job.”
He pointed to Oswaldo Cabrera, who Hicks said “earned the job in spring training,” and Jake Bauers.
“They loved Cabrera and they loved the guys they had in the minors like Jake, and Jake is doing phenomenal,’’ Hicks said. “Those are the guys they wanted to go with. I knew it.”
Hicks said he had a good relationship with manager Aaron Boone and appreciated Boone giving him the news about being designated.
“There was no better person to tell me,’’ Hicks said. “That kind of stuff is kind of cut-throat and it’s better getting it from someone you go way back with.”
The 33-year-old doesn’t look back on his time with the Yankees with much regret, other than his inability to stay healthy, which is what he points to as the reason why he was unable to justify his contract.
“I had two major injuries that prevented me from being the player I was,’’ Hicks said.
The first was a 2019 right elbow injury that resulted in Tommy John surgery.
That was followed by a 2021 left wrist procedure that limited him to 32 games.
In his latter years with the Yankees, he found his playing time limited, which is what caused him to wonder publicly last season if he’d be better off somewhere else.
“I felt I was playing one game and then I’d have two days off,’’ Hicks said. “It seemed like a lot of off-days were scheduled. I wanted to play every day and enjoy the highs and lows of being an everyday baseball player. I like to get into a groove. I still have the mindset of an everyday player.
“I don’t like watching baseball. I want to go out there and compete.”
Time on his hands didn’t help.
“I wouldn’t play and then I’d have to think about it for a day and I was fighting battles I can’t win,’’ Hicks said. “I want to play every day. I don’t want to be a fourth outfielder. I’ve already done that and it doesn’t work for me.
“You want to get to the point of playing consistently for two months and that’s what I’m getting here.”
Still, he said he’s not out to prove the Yankees wrong for letting him go.
“No, because they made a decision for them,’’ Hicks said. “And now I’m happy with the situation I’m in. It would be dumb to be mad.”
Hicks said talks with the Orioles began almost immediately after he was let go by the Yankees, even before Baltimore center fielder Cedric Mullins went on the injured list with a groin injury.
He expects to get regular time in the corner outfield spots and at DH now that Mullins is back.
After leaving the Yankees in Cincinnati, Hicks went home to New Jersey, packed his stuff and went to Arizona, where he and his family spend the offseason.
He signed with Baltimore, and in his first game for the Orioles on May 31, he had two hits. It began a 16-game stretch in which he went 16-for-51 with three doubles, a triple and three homers in 60 plate appearances for an OPS of 1.005.
Hicks said Baltimore’s hitting coaches got him to stand taller in his swing — and also changed his mindset at the plate.
“They really helped me believe and get my confidence back,’’ Hicks said. “They said to focus on the little things and if you make solid contact, it’s all you can do. If I didn’t get a hit [with the Yankees], I knew I’d sit the bench the next day.”
Hicks has cooled off a bit since his electric start and he’s looking forward to returning to Yankee Stadium, despite how things devolved there.
“I love the organization,’’ Hicks said. “I’d been there so long, it’s always gonna be a part of me. I have a lot to be proud of with the New York Yankees and love a lot of people there. Being a Yankee is tough on its own. Being there a long time is even harder.
“I’m just happy where I am now.”
He’s curious how he’ll be received in The Bronx with another team, assuming it will be “mixed,” which is better than how it was in his final few years as a Yankee.
“It was tough,’’ Hicks said. “You’re trying to go out and perform and it doesn’t matter how well you do that day, the next day you show up and it’s gonna be the same thing. Those are tough conditions to play under. I don’t have to deal with it anymore.”
It’s a feeling his former Yankees teammate, Joey Gallo, knows all too well. Gallo had a famously hard time playing in The Bronx and is now in Minnesota.
“I knew it was rough there for him,’’ Gallo said of Hicks’ time in New York. “I felt me and him were kind of going through the same things. You feel it. The fans and media are not happy with the way you’re performing. I’m happy to see him do well in Baltimore.
“You want it to work out in New York and it doesn’t happen sometimes.”
Gallo said after he was traded to the Dodgers last season, he learned it got worse for Hicks.
“When I was in LA, I got videos of fans yelling my name at him, like he took my place,’’ Gallo said. “I told him to keep his head up. It’s an unfortunate part of the business we’re in and it’s more magnified in New York.
“From a mental aspect, it’s good to see him get back to having success and feeling good about himself. You can forget you were ever a good player.”
And when that happens in the spotlight of The Bronx, Gallo said, “It makes for a long year, no matter who you are.”
Now, Hicks has a chance to show that he can be that again.
