The New York Yankees secured their first win of the regular season on Thursday evening against the Washington Nationals. Despite the rain prematurely ending the contest after the fifth inning, ace Gerrit Cole walked away with his first win in pinstripes.
The Yankees unrolled an interesting batting order to start this strange season, leading off with Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner filling in the fifth spot. Then you have Tyler Wade, who hit in the nine hole.
While this wasn’t the ideal Yankee lineup, they still manage to put four runs on the board before the game ended.
It also gave us an interesting look into some of the secret weapons the Yankees have on the roster and how they might utilize them.
Let’s take a look at three players New York Yankees could call on throughout the season:
1.) Tyler Wade
It was between Tyler Wade and Estrada to fill in for DJ LeMahieu, who is still returning from testing positive with COVID-19 several weeks ago. Wade was given the starting job at second base in the meantime over Estrada, and he did not disappoint.
Wade enjoyed two at-bats, walking his first time and hitting an infield single on a bunt the second time. However, as anticipated, his elite speed on the bases extended the Yankees‘ early lead. After a Giancarlo Stanton homer, Wade scored from first base on an Aaron Judge double.
He also made an impressive catch at second base, further proving manager Aaron Boone’s decision to utilize him.
2.) Miguel Andujar
Andujar is one of the Yankees’ bright young players. A torn labrum in 2019 allowed incumbent Gio Urshela to cement himself at third base, ultimately moving Andujar to the outfield. The offensive weapon has been working in left field and spent some time in right to help diversify his defensive offerings. However, the probability moving forward is that he will earn reps as the DH. Giving Giancarlo Stanton some time to mitigate fatigue will likely be the course of action and Andujar will be the not-so-secret weapon in the batting order.
In 2018, Andujar posted a .297 batting average was 27 homers and 92 RBIs. He played in just 12 games last season before getting the injured list. He has looked good at the plate during intrasquad an exhibition games, and the New York Yankees could surely use his bad when called upon.
3.) Clint Frazier
Clint Frazier has been an entirely different player this off-season. After being sent down in 2019 after ignoring the media following a tough defensive performance against the Boston Red Sox, his mentality has shifted. He’s a more mature player and has taken to wearing a mask during his play, which hasn’t seemed to limit him despite the heat.
With Brett Gardner striking out three consecutive times against Max Scherzer on Thursday, the Yankees could look to Frazier to start in left field if Gardner’s experiences any sort of cold-streak. Clint has the offensive capabilities to offer consistently, his defense has just been a bit shaky the past few seasons. However, it seems as if he’s taken a significant step forward and could be ready to supplement Gardner at any moment.