HEY , HO! LET’S GO DIDI!

2 HR, 8 RBI show star power

Maybe this is the year Didi Gregorius gets the recognition he deserves as one of the top shortstops in baseball. It’s no easy feat, with all of the great young players at that position in the big leagues these days, but more and more it looks as if he belongs with just about any of them. He opened a lot of eyes last season with his 25 home runs despite missing the first month of the season, and then two more against Corey Kluber in the decisive Game 5 of the ALDS, all while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense. And then there was his performance in Tuesday’s home opener, when Gregorius did it all for the Yankees, hitting a pair of three-run home runs among his four hits and eight RBI, while playing more sparkling defense in an 11-4 win over the Rays. As a result, he’s hitting .444 after five games, perhaps at age 28 primed for a season that will put him in the conversation nationally with the likes of Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Cory Seager, and now Manny Machado as the best shortstops in the game. After making the point that some great defensive plays got overshadowed on this day by his offense, Aaron Boone acknowledged that Gregorius may be overlooked a bit because of today’s crop of young shortstops, but only from a media perspective. “I think everyone around the game understands how good he is,” Boone said, “and what a big-time money player he has become. That was quite a show he put on today.” All of it in miserable conditions at the Stadium, as the snow that forced Monday’s postponement turned into a rainy, raw Tuesday. As it turned out, Gregorius’ second home run, in particular, helped Boone avoid more second-guessing, when his decision to pull starter Jordan Montgomery after five innings and 80 pitches backfired, as the bullpen blew a 4-1 lead. His heroics also saved Giancarlo Stanton on a day when last year’s NL MVP struck out five times in his first game in the Bronx as a Yankee. There’s no hiding from the platinum sombrero, especially since he was booed by the ever-impatient fans, but it would have been much worse for Stanton had his K’s contributed to a loss. Instead he handled his first rough day in pinstripes with some candid evaluation of his day and a bit of self-deprecating humor, both good signs for his indoctrination to New York.

“A performance like that, you should get booed,” Stanton said. “Didi picked me up. That’s what a clean-up hitter does, you clean up the garbage in front of you.”

Stanton managed a wry smile. He was hitting just ahead of Didi in the No. 3 spot, and as it turned out, had a little something to do with Gregorius’ big day, leaving all those potential RBI for the shortstop.

And so while it was assumed Gregorius had seen the last of his days hitting clean-up — remember when he tweeted at Boone, posing that very question after the Stanton trade — he might just wind up hitting there all season. The trend of hitting sluggers in the No. 2 spot has landed Aaron Judge there for the Yankees, meaning Stanton can hit third. And with Greg Bird injured for at least another several weeks, Gregorius is the natural choice to break up the righties, hitting just ahead of Gary Sanchez.

And the feeling around the Yankees is that Gregorius might be the guy they want up most in a clutch spot.

“He’s just got a knack for driving in runs,” was the way Brett Gardner put it. “When he gets a pitch he can handle, he finds a way to put the barrel on it.”

Implied in all the compliments is that Gregorius has the right mentality to hit in big spots, which, of course, was perhaps Derek Jeter’s greatest strength: No moment ever seemed too big for him.

With that in mind, the fact that Gregorius has thrived in the clean-up spot surely says something about him. And after all, he was able to overcome the pressure of replacing Jeter, surviving early jitters to blossom into a star.

As it is, Jeter never had a day quite like this one, as Gregorius’ eight RBI were the most ever a Yankee shortstop.

As is his habit, however, he deflected questions about his big day, saying he couldn’t have done it without his teammates getting on base, and all that mattered was winning the game.

In doing so, Gregorius perhaps saved Boone from more second-guessing. The manager said he thought Montgomery was tiring after five innings, and considering the tough conditions and that it was his first start, OK, it’s hard to argue with that.

Still, Jonathan Holder couldn’t hold the lead, and if the Yankees had lost, there would have been a lot more talk about how strictly Boone is going to be guided by analytics, pulling starters before they can face the lineup a third time, which is the big trend in the game now.

On this day, however, Gregorius managed to change the conversation in a big way, as he continues to stake his claim among the game’s best shortstops.