Yankees Notebook: A Ben Rice Comparison, Another Shortstop Option, and More
Before a Monday off day, the Yankees opened up about a possible position change and said goodbye to a 13th member of the roster before the WBC.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Before the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies met in their first spring training action of March, a pair of Yankees legends took a few minutes to catch up near the batting cage.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone and Phillies bench coach Don Mattingly, who played all 14 of his MLB seasons with the Yankees, talked baseball for a few minutes as the Phillies ended their pregame drills and the Yankees set up for theirs.
“I’m a child of the ’80s, and he was one of my favorite players,” said Boone, who turns 53 on March 9.
Yankees Send Another Player to World Baseball Classic
With left-hander Ryan Yarbrough being chosen to replace Joe Ryan on the Team USA pitching staff, the Yankees now have 13 players participating in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
“It times up with his next outing and stuff like when he pitched, so it makes some sense,” Boone said. “Obviously, it’s a good opportunity.”
Ryan, suffering from lower back inflammation, can return to Team USA’s active roster if the Americans advance out of pool play.
High Praise for Ben Rice?
Sure, there’s plenty of hype around Ben Rice and what the 27-year-old could do in his third MLB season. However, with the Yankees playing the Phillies on Sunday, it was a chance for Boone to be asked to make a comparison between Rice and another left-handed-hitting slugger, Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber.
“Obviously, Kyle’s become one of the outstanding hitters, outstanding sluggers of this generation now,” Boone said. “So they both hit the ball really hard. They both control the zone really well. Kyle’s got that different power to center, the other way, whereas Ben, he hits the ball the other way with authority, but he’s a little more pull power. Kyle’s done it now for what 10, 12 years (actually 11), established his stardom, and Benny’s still on the rise. They both control the zone and hit the ball hard, I’ll say that.”
Do the Yankees Have Another Option at Shortstop?
When the Yankees return from an off day on Monday, an infield experiment will kick into high gear that could determine what New York does at shortstop to open the season.
With Anthony Volpe still recovering from a shoulder injury and plenty of questions surrounding what New York could do at the shortstop spot, Ryan McMahon, acquired last season in a trade deadline deal with the Colorado Rockies, will start getting serious game time at shortstop.
With just 3.0 innings at short over two games in his nine-year MLB career, McMahon has much more MLB experience at other infield positions, but Boone believes McMahon’s natural fielding ability and athleticism will make a potential move a possibility.
McMahon is slated to start at shortstop for the Yankees on Tuesday against Team Panama in a warmup game for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. McMahon will get another start on Thursday at shortstop, giving Boone a look at what McMahon might bring to the position.
“That’s why I want to get him out there this spring, especially considering the iterations of our roster coming out of camp,” Boone said. “His ability to go do that maybe allows you to go in a different way. We’ll see. He hasn’t done it yet, but I expect he’ll be fine there as natural as a fielder as he is.”
McMahon said he views the move to shortstop as a way to help the team in the short term and likely not a permanent move.
“Do I think I’m going to be a Bobby Witt or Francisco Lindor at shortstop? No, I’m not dumb enough to think that,” McMahon smiled. “But do I think I could be serviceable if it came down to it. I think it’s just to have options, so they can kind of figure out what they want to do with the roster and things like that. I don’t think I’m going to be in there every single day.”
Will Warren Looks Sharp vs. Phillies
In his second start of the spring, Warren was in command against Philadelphia on Sunday, allowing just one hit over 3.2 innings and striking out three. It lowered his ERA for the spring to 1.42 and continued to show growth over last season when he burst onto the scene for the Yankees by making 33 starts.
“There’s a lot to soak up and learn for myself, and being and sharing in the clubhouse with our rotation, I think there’s a lot I’ve learned,” said Warren. “There’s a lot more to learn. But I think, for instance, today, I’m spamming heaters in the first inning. Last year, I’m trying to overdo stuff, or trying to make this super nasty pitch. There’s really no need to do that. Your stuff’s good enough as is. Just execute and stay in control. Stay smooth and be aggressive.”
Of his 50 pitches on Sunday, 33 went for strikes. He also faced a Phillies lineup that had plenty of regulars in it, including Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm as the first three hitters.
“I don’t know if it’s the results. It’s more of how I feel and how the ball is coming out of my hand,” Warren said. “With executing and shapes of the pitches, I think everything’s in a good spot.”
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A member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), Kevin Henry has been covering MLB and MiLB for nearly two decades. Those assignments have included…