Tauchman focuses on swing as time with Bombers could come to end
TAMPA — Mike Tauchman went back to work Wednesday. The Yankees outfielder was certainly aware of the deadline hanging over him. Thursday, the team has to decide if they are going to add Jay Bruce to the 40-man roster or he can opt out. That could mean Tauchman’s — who is out of minor league options — time in pinstripes would be over.
After Bruce went 0-for2 with two strikeouts in Wednesday’s
5-0 loss to the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Aaron Boone said the decision had not been made yet.
“The reality is we, and a few of our players, have decisions to make, probably in the next 24-4872 hours,” the Yankee manager said. “But no decision that’s been made as of right now.”
But Tauchman was thinking more about his swing than his future.
“I don’t have any say in that. So, I’ve personally been happy with my level of at-bats, I’ve been happy with the way I’ve played the outfield,” Tauchman said
Wednesday. “And I’ve been happy with how my body’s felt, I think that I’m in a position to play at a high level of the major leagues this year and to me that’s much more of a priority than worrying about what people way above my pay grade are going to do so.
“I’m focused on playing baseball, I’m focused on today. And that’s really as far as the future is I’m looking.”
Tauchman made a good case for himself Tuesday, reaching base five times and playing center field. The Yankees like Tauchman and think he is more like the player they saw break out in 2019, when he hit .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs and 47 RBI in 87 games, than the one that reverted back to his numbers with the Rockies in 2020.
He slashed .242/.342/.305 with no homers and 14 RBI in 43 games last season. Part of the reason for the regression was a lingering right shoulder injury, the Yankees think sapped his power. Tauchman said it didn’t allow him to get his “A”swing off.
“Ultimately, I felt as though
I could play,” Tauchman said. “There was a large part of the season where I didn’t feel like myself. It was difficult for me to
take the swings that I wanted to take. Whether it was consciously or subconsciously, I found a way that I felt like I could swing and get through games, and I developed some bad swing patterns. I feel like I’m in a lot better position to have success this year.”
Boone and the Yankees said they think 2020, a season abbreviated and changed by the coronavirus pandemic, was too small of a sample size to put much credence into the numbers. That’s a theory shared across the game.
“Some guys are second-half guys and they never got a second half,” one executive said. “The coronavirus protocols were so strange too. They had limited time to work in cages, they had only so much time to work with others. And then there was the fact that most of them were away from their families. It’s a year to throw away.”
The Yankees, who could be looking for a reliever, would have a chance to trade Tauchman if they decided to go another route. The Phillies, Marlins, Astros and A’s are interested in left-handed hitting outfielders. Even some in the Rockies organization would be interested in seeing if he could put up his 2019 numbers back in Colorado.
“I feel like we’re in a really good position whatever way we go,” Boone said the other day.
“There’s a good choice to be made there if you know whether you’re talking about Tauchman. He’s a pretty elite outfielder at three different spots. Or whether you’re talking about Jay Bruce, who’s shown me he can play first base to go along with the corner outfields. He’s healthy and we know what his bat can be… I feel like we have a difficult session in front of us, certainly, and there’s a lot of things that factor into that and go into that decision.
“I feel like whatever way we go. I feel like we’re in a pretty good spot, entering the season with what potentially could be a pretty deep 26 man roster.”
TAKE A JAB
Aaron Boone, a cardiac surgery survivor and who had to leave this spring training to have a pacemaker implanted, has had the COVID-19 vaccine. The Yankees skipper will also encourage his players, coaches, family and friends to do the same.
“I got vaccinated about a week ago. Of course, yeah, I’ll definitely encourage our guys to get it. There’s talk of more of us being able to get it. We’re hopeful . ... It does seem like it’s starting to happen obviously more with especially some younger population and healthier population,” Boone said Wednesday. “So hopefully it’s something that will be available to us en masse and I’ll definitely encourage that.”
Tuesday, MLB announced they were joining with 12 other sports leagues to encourage fans to get the vaccine. Mike Trout and Pete Alonzo are among the stars of the game who are featured in a baseball public service announcement titled “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
But Boone would not go so far to use his position as the Yankees manager to advocate for that.
“I don’t know if I’d necessarily take that position, because in the end I think it’s an individual decision,” Boone said. “Certainly when I’m asked about it and when I talk to our guys I’ll certainly encourage it. “But I don’t feel like it’s my place to tell somebody.”
MAKING MOVES
After the Yankees’ 5-0 loss to the Blue Jays, they reassigned right-handed pitchers Kyle Barraclough and Asher Wojciechowski and outfielders Sócrates Brito and Ryan LaMarre to minor league camp. Wojciechowski has been dealing with a lat injury.