Peter Barzilai thinks so:

Is it time to worry about Mark Teixeira?

The Yankees first baseman went 0-for-6 and tied a career high with five strikeouts in a 3-2, 14-inning loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday. Traditionally a slow starter, he is now hitting .215 with eight home runs, 34 RBI, 45 strikeouts and 33 walks.

“I’ve done it before. Strikeouts are a part of the game,” Teixeira said. “Today, I just didn’t see the ball real well.”

A year ago Teixeira was hitting .213 on May 15 and went 29-for-72 (.403) to raise his average to .284 on June 5. That makes this year’s average by far the worst of his career through the same date. The drop in home runs and RBI is not as significant but still disconcerting. Teixeira, 30, is on pace for 23 home runs and 98 RBI, the homers ranking as a career low and the RBI being his lowest total since his rookie season of 2003.

So there is no doubt his numbers are down, but a closer look at Teixeira’s performance suggests they won’t stay that way.

His walk rate is up (13.2% from 11.5% in 2009) and strikeout rate down (18.8% from 18.7%) from a year ago when he led the American League with 39 home runs and 122 RBI. But the red flag is in his BABIP (batting average on balls in play), which is only .236, nearly 70 points lower than his career mark of .305.

As long as Teixeira keeps walking and striking out at his current rate, he will start to find more luck and more balls dropping for hits.

Then again, sometimes this bad BABIP thing can last for a full season – like it did for Nick Swisher in 2008:

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