Yanks hope to find answers at SS, LF this spring
This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch’s Yankees Beat e-newsletter. To learn the total e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it repeatedly in your inbox.
The vehicles have been unloaded at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., awaiting the arrival of Yankees pitchers and catchers this coming week.
As Aaron Judge prepares for his first spring because the crew’s new captain, there are a number of vital storylines we’ll be monitoring because the crew prepares for Opening Day, which might be on March 30 towards the Giants at Yankee Stadium:
Youth could possibly be served this spring, with prospects Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe each in camp and anticipated to obtain appreciable taking part in time on the shortstop place. Peraza and Volpe will problem Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who made 131 begins at shortstop final season however endured defensive struggles that prompted supervisor Aaron Boone to go away him out of the beginning lineup for 4 of the membership’s 9 postseason video games.
Peraza, 22, impressed final September when he batted .306 (15-for-49) with three doubles, one homer, two RBIs and two stolen bases in 18 video games; Boone trusted Peraza sufficient to attract a begin in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series towards the Astros. This would be the first massive league Spring Training for the 21-year-old Volpe, rated because the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect and the No. 5 prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline.
The sense is that the Yankees would like to see Peraza resoundingly win the job this spring, which might permit them to shift Kiner-Falefa into extra of a utility function and supply Volpe with further growth time. Volpe logged simply 99 plate appearances at Triple-A final season, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see him start the yr with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and be within the combine for a midseason callup.
The Yankees made a number of strikes over the offseason to retain or import expertise, together with re-signing Judge and Anthony Rizzo, inking free-agent starter Carlos Rodón and bringing reliever Tommy Kahnle again to the Bronx. But the left-field image stays a lot the identical because it was in the course of the playoffs, with Andrew Benintendi (who didn’t play after Sept. 2) having departed to hitch the White Sox.
That leaves Oswaldo Cabrera and Aaron Hicks because the likeliest candidates to attract taking part in time on the place, with Harrison Bader in middle area and Judge in proper. Giancarlo Stanton may additionally see a smattering of defensive innings, however Boone has mentioned he’d favor to not play Stanton in Yankee Stadium’s spacious left area, as an alternative trying to him to play proper area on days when Judge serves because the designated hitter.
Hicks endured a tough season in 2022, however basic supervisor Brian Cashman has mentioned that he suspects Hicks will win the job (Hicks has three years and $30 million remaining on his contract). Cabrera may pressure a special determination with a powerful spring. The Yanks view him as a helpful jack-of-all-trades; he performed each place however middle area, pitcher and catcher after being known as up in mid-August.
Cashman has mentioned that he acknowledges left area is an space the place the Yankees can improve. A commerce continues to be potential between now and Opening Day; keep in mind, final spring the Yanks reported to camp with Gary Sánchez as their beginning catcher and Gio Urshela within the infield.
Boone has mentioned that the envisioned beginning rotation is probably going his greatest since taking on the managerial reins in 2018, with Gerrit Cole and Rodón on the high. Cole is coming off a ’22 efficiency during which he shattered Ron Guidry’s single-season franchise report for strikeouts with 257, whereas Rodón fanned 237 batters in 178 innings for the Giants, posting a 14-8 report with a 2.88 ERA. Rodón’s 12 strikeouts per 9 innings represented the Majors’ greatest mark.
Luis Severino and Nestor Cortes are in line because the Nos. 3 and 4 starters. The Yankees lately declined Severino’s request to pitch within the World Baseball Classic, with Cashman explaining that the membership needed to guard the righty after lacking appreciable time attributable to accidents over the previous a number of years. Cortes, a 2022 AL All-Star, was granted permission to pitch for Team USA within the upcoming match.
Frankie Montas had been slotted because the doubtless No. 5 starter, however the righty continues to expertise irritation in his pitching shoulder and is claimed to be eight to 10 weeks behind in his offseason coaching. That figures to open the door for a spring competitors between Domingo Germán and Clarke Schmidt, with Randy Vásquez, Matt Krook and Jhony Brito additionally amongst these within the combine.
