Yesterday at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida, the New York Yankees met the Detroit Tigers in a game they lost to the Tigers 10-4. But during the game Manager, Aaron Bonne spent an inning in the booth with WFAN’s John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.
Sterling welcomed Boone to the booth and started the conversation by saying two words. Rosell Herrera. Boone responded not verbatim, yes he is really making the most of his opportunity by playing well. Herrera is not on the 40 man roster and probably a long shot that he will make the starting team. His major league career average is just .225 in 383 at-bats.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE FIRESIDE YANKEES PODCAST!
What is making Boone and other coaches take notice in this year’s Grapefruit League games is that Herrera is taring it up on behind the plate and in his defense. He has been in all but one spring training game, more than most of the players.
So far, he is 7 for 14 with a 1.214 OPS (4th best of the 36 position players at camp). Boone remarked that “Rosell can play anywhere in the outfield, he plays at second and third, and we will probably test him out at shortstop at some point.” When I heard Boone say that, I thought to myself that he seems to be a “super-utility” player similar to Tyler Wade, but with a much more active bat, although six games is a small sample. The New York Daily News asked, “Can Rosell Herrera be the next DJ LeMahieu for the Yanks?” One thing is for sure while speaking to Sterling and Waldman, Boone wasn’t shy in his praise for the 27-year-old.
The WFAN personalities and Boone discussed several other subjects as well, including many of the young pitching hands that are performing well.
One pitcher that was mentioned particularly was Brooks Kriske, who has pitched in more games than any Yankee pitcher. So far in four games, he has an ERA of 2.25. Boone sang the praises of Kriste. He also mentioned Clarke Schmidt’s performance, Luis Avilan, who has been a strikeout machine, sharing the highest number of strikeouts with Jordan Montgomery (7).
Speaking of Montgomery, Boone said, “he has done a lot of offseason conditioning and (he) came to spring training ready.” Montgomery has pitched in three innings allowing only one hit while getting seven putouts. He also said that Montgomery would be the fourth starter, but he evaded the question as to who would be the fifth starter, saying it too early in spring training to decide that.
The three also briefly discussed the injury situation, citing that Aaron Judge has nagging discomfort in his shoulder and pectoral muscle, and they will be doing more tests tomorrow (Monday) to get to the bottom of it. Boone previously said:
“I’m a little frustrated for him, just not being able to get our arms around exactly what’s going on and why it’s been slow moving,†Boone said. “The biggest thing right now is trying to get answers.â€
Judge as yet to take part in outdoor batting practice or be in any games. Boone, however, intimated that he was hopeful that Judge and Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain) would be ready for opening day at Orioles Park at Camden Yards. The Yankee’s new ace pitcher Gerrit Cole was not mentioned in the conversation. Boone, in general, was delighted with how his players were doing so far in spring training.
EmpireSportsMedia.com’s Columnist William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.