The New York Yankees are, officially, a postseason team. They became the first squad in the American League to punch their ticket after beating the Seattle Mariners 2-1 on Wednesday night. After failing to advance to the postseason last year, the Yankees are certainly not taking this moment for granted.
These last few games will help them reach other important goals, such as securing the division title, a first-round bye, and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. However, these games will also help them decide who plays more in October and who will have a reduced role in specific positions.
One of the spots in which there will be Yankees battling for playing time is left field. Alex Verdugo opened the year as the starter there and retained that role until recently when star prospect Jasson Dominguez forced his way up from Triple-A. Now, the two are locked in an intense battle for at-bats.
Three players are essentially competing for two spots in the Yankees’ lineup
To be more precise, the presence of Dominguez doesn’t only affect Verdugo, but also Giancarlo Stanton. In fact, the veteran designated hitter sat two games in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday.
When Yankees manager Aaron Boone wants to include Verdugo and Dominguez in the same lineup, he sends the latter to center field, moving Aaron Judge to the DH spot and Stanton to the bench.
How is each one of them performing at the moment? Verdugo has a .650 OPS for the year and a .632 mark over his last seven games. He is not really giving the Yankees a reason for this arrangement.
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The problem is that Stanton is also ice-cold at the plate. He does have 25 homers in 2024 and a .770 OPS, but is hitting .174 over his last seven games and .180 in his last 15.
The “Martian” is just 4-for-23 since returning to the majors for good, but needs regular playing time to grow and the Yankees’ insistence to keep Verdugo involved might be counterproductive.
Performance-wise, none of these players have separated themselves from the pack. There is still time for the Yankees to sort out how to manage this particular position battle.
