Former Yankee Aaron Hicks excelling with rival Orioles after being cut with 2-plus years left on his contract

Aaron Hicks apparently just needed to get out of the bright lights of the Big Apple.

That’s the way it looks as the ex-Yankee has set the world on fire as a member of the Baltimore Orioles over the last few weeks.

The 33-year-old is slashing .340/.444/.604 with three homers and 10 RBI in 17 games with the O’s since agreeing to a deal to stay in the American League East on May 30.

On Tuesday, Hicks smacked a homer and had four RBI as the Orioles — five games ahead of the Yankees in the standings — beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-6.

“It’s been awesome,” Hicks told reporters after the game. “The team has really welcomed me since I got here, and been able to have opportunities pretty much from day one to play every single day. It’s been fun.”

His outburst with the Orioles has been so good that his season OPS — including his .188/.263/.261 28-game performance with the Bombers this season — has shot up to .755 with an WRC+ of 114 which would rank fourth on the Yanks behind Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Harrison Bader.

Those ugly numbers led to the struggling Yankees dumping Hicks with roughly $25 million remaining on the curious seven-year, $70 million contract he signed after the 2018 season.

While it is easier to perform without 40,000-plus fans booing you on a nightly basis, Hicks’ performance in Baltimore is due to much more than just a simple change of scenery. Orioles hitting coaches sat down with Hicks and immediately started flipping through film from his 2018 swing — where he slashed .248/.366/.467 with 27 homers — and found a mechanical adjustment, according to the Baltimore Banner.

“They feel like that’s what’s going to allow me to be the player I was three years ago,” Hicks said on June 9. “Five years, I think. I had to think about it… A lot of the technique that I used in my swing [in 2018] is what they’re trying to implement, or try to get me to get back to.”

Baltimore taking a look back at what Hicks was doing when he was successful begs the question if the Yankee were doing the same thing. Seeing what the Orioles are trying to do to fix Hicks, it’s hard to forget that it apparently took a recent chicken parm dinner with his friends for Anthony Volpe to realize his mechanics were out of whack.

Hicks, the former first-round draft pick who was cut on May 20, entered the 2023 season with a chance to secure the job as their starting left fielder despite a brutal 2022 season in which he slashed .216/.330/.313 in 130 games — including multiple defensive miscues. However, he was beaten out by Oswaldo Cabrera who “earned” the job in spring training.

“This is family,” manager Aaron Boone told reporters on May 20. “You go through everything with these guys. Obviously with Aaron, some ups and downs. He’s had some really good seasons. … Not an easy conversation to have but one we felt was necessary.”

Now, the Bombers are paying the outfielder to play against them on a division rival and apparently while playing better than he ever has before.

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