Who gets credit for Yankees’ Didi Gregorius turning into basestealer

Didi Gregorius leads the Yankees with eight steals in 10 attempts, after swiping second base in the Yankees’ 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 (6/5/18).

TORONTO — Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius escaped with nothing more than some initial pain Tuesday night when he was hit by a pitch in the left foot and fouled a ball off his right foot.

“I try to keep it balanced,” Sir Didi said with a smile after the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-2 at Rogers Centre.

The next question in his short post-game interview was funnier:

Will that hurt you when you’re trying to win the stolen base title?

“Nah, I’m not going to be close to that!” Gregorius shot back.

He’s right, but Gregorius has become a base-stealing threat for the first time as a big leaguer this season.

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Gregorius matched his career-high by stealing his seventh base in Game 1 of the Yankees’ doubleheader in Detroit on Monday, then established a new high by swiping his eighth in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game.

The eight steals (in 10 attempts) lead the Yankees and are tied for 13th best in the American League.

What in the name of Rickey Henderson is going on?

Well, credit Yankees rookie manager Aaron Boone for challenging Gregorius, who runs well, to start running more.

“Talking to Booney, we talked about some leads and talked about if I could use my speed and I’ve been working on it since spring training,” Gregorius said. “It’s just things we talked about in spring training about trying to get better. It’s one more thing on the map for me.”

Coming into this year, Gregorius was just 18 for 25 as a base stealer in six seasons as a big leaguer. He was just three for four last year after swiping seven in 2017.

As a Cincinnati Reds prospect, he stole 20 bags in 27 chances as a 20-year-old in 2010, but he dropped to 10 in 19 tries in 2011 and then was worse in 2012 when he was five for 12.

Getting thrown out a lot in those two years obviously got in Gregorius’ head because he rarely attempted to steal much since until this season.

Again, credit Boone for challenging Gregorius to pick his spots against pitchers who are slow to the plate.

“I think it is an area he could continue to grow in,” Boone said. “Obviously we’re not a huge base-stealing team necessarily, but we do have guys that we feel like can take advantage of certain matchups and it’s something that I personally put a lot of focus on in trying to run when the matchup is there.

“When there’s an opportunity to take a base, I think it’s important to try and do that and Didi’s been one of those guys that has done a really nice job of taking advantage of some situations. He’s done a good job for us.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.