The New York Yankees got some good news yesterday; one came during the seventh intrasquad game last night at the Stadium. Aaron Judge, in his first at-bat since returning from a stiff neck hit a monster homer in the 428-foot range into the netting above Monument Park. In the game, Giancarlo Stanton hit a laser blast into the left-field stands inside the foul pole. For the Yankees, both of these homers are good news, heading into the last few games of summer camp.
Over the weekend, Judge woke up with a stiff neck, which kept him away from hitting on both Monday and Tuesday. When Judge was asked how it happened, he stated, “some days you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed.” He also talked about how you can’t hit the ball if you can’t turn your head to see the pitcher. The Yankees are happy that it is no longer an issue for Judge leading into the start of the season next week.
James Paxton, the starting pitcher, stated that he was happy to see those guys get those hits, but he just wished it hadn’t been off him. Paxton, who is set to be the number two starter for the New York Yankees, will have one more game before the season’s start on July 23rd. More good news for the Yankees was that Jonathan Loaisiga went nine up and nine down in his relief outing.
It’s official Gerrit Cole to start on opening day
Yesterday the New York Yankees made it official, new ace Gerrit Cole will start the game on the 2020 opening day of Major League Baseball. Cole, in the game, will face the Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer in the nation’s capital at Nationals Park.
The opening game on the 23rd will be the first game of the 2020 MLB season. The second game will be later that night between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. All of the other MLB teams will have their opening day the following day.
DJ LeMahieu expected back at the Stadium this week
The New York Yankees may have dodged a bullet with the expected return of DJ LeMahieu to summer camp at the end of the week. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported this news.
A few weeks ago LeMahieu tested positive for the coronavirus. He was asymptomatic and resting at home during the MLB imposed quarantine protocol. His returned signals that he has tested negative twice, two days apart. His return will let him get some bats in before next week’s start.
Without any certainty that LeMahieu would be ready for the start of the season, it sent the Yankees scrambling to find a replacement for him at second base. The options would have been Thairo Estrada or a more complicated switch of Gleyber Torres. That may still be necessary if DJ can’t ramp up on time.
New York Yankees still tweaking the starting lineup and bench
With the start of the season just one week away, manager Aaron Boone and coaches are still firming up the 30 players they will keep on the roster for the first two weeks. For the next two weeks, they will go down to a 28 man roster, and two weeks after that, they will be further reduced to the 26 men that will remain for the rest of the short 60 game season.
One of the decisions Boone and company will have to make is whether to keep Tyler Wade or Thairo Estrada on the opening roster. Thairo Estrada is the more complete player, especially at the plate. However, with the new rule with a man on second after the ninth inning, the fast, base-stealing Wade may have the edge.