The New York Yankees faced off against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon, featuring Clarke Schmidt on the mound for his third appearance of the spring. Despite the 11–7 loss, the Yankees walked away with plenty of positives following a disappointing morning, learning of the Carlos Rodon injury news and the bullpen suffering yet another setback.
Rodon won’t throw for the next 7–10 days as he deals with a left forearm strain, which sometimes suggests Tommy John surgery. However, it seems as if Rodon dodged any significant issues and is expected to return sometime in April, according to manager Aaron Boone.
However, Trivino, one of the Yankees’ more experienced bullpen pieces, is also dealing with a mild elbow sprain, expecting to be out until May. This could force the Yankees to make an acquisition to solve one of the starting rotation spots and plug another piece into the bullpen. Still, they will continue testing their young prospects to see if any are capable of making the 26-man roster. Keep an eye on Matt Krook, who has been impressing the Yankee brass.
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Good news for the Yankees:
Despite the loss, the Yankees enjoyed a few solid performances across the board. Notably, Andres Chaparro contributed two hits and a run over two at-bats, and star outfield prospect Jasson Dominguez slapped a three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th with two outs. Dominguez is hitting .438 with a .526 OBP this spring, incredible numbers for the youngster.
In addition, expected starting shortstop Oswald Peraza tallied a hit and a run across two at-bats. He slapped a double down the left-field line, swiping a bag in the process and stealing home on a wild pitch.
Offensively, the Yankees did plenty to put themselves in a good position to win this game, with Jose Treviño also recording two RBIs on a double. As a whole, the team posted nine hits and struck out nine times, but their pitching struggled, which is evident based on the score line.
Bad news for the Yankees:
The Red Sox have won every spring training game up to this point, thanks to Schmidt giving up two earned runs, four hits, and a homer across 3.0 innings. It wasn’t Schmidt’s worst performance, as he saw plenty of life on his cutter and movement on his slider, but his location is still a work in progress and is gaining velocity with every appearance.
However, it wasn’t until the 6th inning that former Red Sox bullpen arm, Tyler Danish, gave up six hits and six earned runs across 0.1 innings. Impressively, he has a 94.50 ERA, which is almost impossible to fathom. Aside from Danish, Randy Vasquez gave up two earned runs and a hit across 2.0 innings. His one mistake was a homer to pinch hitter Phillip Sikes, but otherwise, Vasquez showed good stuff.
The Yankees have learned a lot about their prospects over the past few weeks, seeing great performances from Dominguez, Chaparro, and Ron Marinaccio on Thursday afternoon. This was Ron‘s first spring training appearance, striking out two batters over an inning. The Bombers have high expectations for Marinaccio this upcoming season, especially coming off an impressive rookie campaign.