Yankees ST Battles Updates: Rotation? Bench? OF With no Stanton and Maybe no Judge? Lets Take a Look!

Lets take a look at where things stand for the Yankees ST (Spring Training) battles and such:

Image result for Yankees Spring Training

Lets start with the biggest one being the rotation. As of right now its lined up to be this:

RHP Gerrett Cole
LHP Jordan Montgomery
RHP Masahiro Tanaka
LHP J.A. Happ
RHP Mike King

We know Paxton is on the fast track to returning and scheduled to start throwing in a few days.

Paxton has begun rotation exercises with a medicine ball. He said he may begin throwing at the end of this week or the start of next week. #Yankees
— Kristie Ackert (@ByKristieAckert) March 5, 2020

He’s already started his ST. This puts a wrinkle into the 5th spot. As of right now the leader board for the 5th spot is this:

RHP Mike King
RHP Clarke Schmidt
RHP Deivi Garcia

That’s it! Its been narrowed to that or BP games. My gut says Mike King gets it for about 3 starts as it stands right now. That’s when Paxton is slated to be back the way things stand.

Lets look at the bench now: There’s a few spots up for grabs. One is at backup catcher where Kyle Higashioka has the slightest lead over the red hot Chris Ianetta. I think Higgy gets it ONLY due to having no options left. Its a very, VERY close race though. Could the Yankees carry 3 catchers?

After that Rosell Hererra has stolen a spot due to playing 6 positions and proving he can really hit. Marcus Thames tweaked something in his swing from both sides right after he got here and now he won’t stop hitting. HE’s a 6’5″ SWITCH HITTER which Boone and co absolutely LOVE! He’s the utility man.

With Andujar, Frazier, Ford, Tauchman,Voit, Sanchez, Urshella, DJ, and Torres starting who rounds out the bench? Gardner for one. Then either Wade or Estrada is my best guess. I have to think Estrada gets to due to being that hot. Playing that well.

Yes I am projecting a starting OF based off the way they are playng and what Boone and co have said of:

LF Miguel Andujar, CF Mike Tauchman, RF Clint Frazier.

This by far makes the most sense as they have played extremely good defense and are raking.

That’s where things stand for now guys. Stay tuned as they can still change a few times and fast! The Yankees are so loaded and fine even with a few injuries.

BY: ADAM KING