No longer a one-trick pony, Bombers have been horse to beat so far

BRIAN Cashman had been laying low in recent weeks, a posture he tends to take when his team is playing well. And the Yankees have been excelling.

But his Yankees hosted about 10,000 Bronx students Wednesday, and Cashman went out to represent the team. That meant passing a group of reporters, and suddenly the Yankees general manager was at a full stop, answering questions that have been accumulating for weeks.

He maintained an embargo on discussing anything involving Aaron Judge’s contractual situation and expressed confidence Joey Gallo will positively impact the Yankees. But one turn of phrase particularly resonated when it came to discussing the subject du jour — the 2022 club’s early success:

“You don’t want to be a one-trick pony,” Cashman said.

It reverberated because Cashman had allowed recent rosters to become one-dimensional. He pursued power — pitching and bats — like a Kardashian chasing attention. There were lots of victories in that philosophy if you could obtain a critical mass of the genre. But the redundancy of talent also led to a greater inconsistency of play while making it harder to win playoff rounds. Unplug the power and you defused the Yankees — and better foes could do just that.

When asked in years past why he kept adding one brutish righty hitter after another, Cashman replied they were the best individual available, and he didn’t want to grab a lesser player just for diversity. But the lack of diversity left the Yankees with areas in which they were terrible and, thus, vulnerable. The 2022 Yankees have a less-menacing overall lineup, but a better overall team: offense, defense, pitching, baserunning and health. Don’t ignore that last one. Clint Frazier and Luke Voit already have done injured list time elsewhere, and Gary Sanchez has endured a few nicks. The Yankees have used the IL once so far this season — for Tim Locastro.

Cashman has stocked lots of good players, and getting them on the field over and over has helped them — after a 5-3 matinee win Wednesday over Toronto — to build an MLB-best 22-8 record. The Yankees won at least 22 of their first 30 games eight previous times, and they went to the World Series on each occasion — the last time in 2003 (the only one of those eight times they did not win), when they opened 22-8.

“To this point in the season, we’ve won in a lot of different ways,” said manager Aaron Boone, who in 2003 hit the Yankees’ pennant-winning homer versus the Red Sox. “It’s been pitching and defense, maybe some days a base-running play. … It’s been nice that it’s coming in a lot of different ways. I think that’s built a lot of confidence in that room that we know, we don’t have to lean on one thing on a given night. We have a lot of different ways to beat you.”

The Yankees improved to 6-3 against Toronto despite a rare day when their defense struggled — particularly the infield left side of Isiah Kiner-Falefa and DJ LeMahieu. But in general the infield defense plus the catching have been terrific. The strikeout rate has remained strong, but the ability to convert outs has improved. This re

flects Cashman’s pivot to more nuance, acquiring Kiner-Falefa, which not only upgraded short, but produced a better all-around version of Torres at second (Torres drove in all five runs Wednesday). Sanchez has been replaced by drama-free and tension-free catching.

And Cashman’s baseball operations department has continued to win trades at a high rate. Think about the two made last year with the lowly Pirates. Pittsburgh’s full results, because it involves prospects, are not fully known. But the early read is, edge Yankees.

Jameson Taillon, acquired after the 2020 season for four prospects, had ankle surgery and was not even supposed to pitch the first month this year. But he has not missed a start and has a 2.77 ERA. On Wednesday, he loaded the bases with no out, using 17 pitches to open the game. The Yankees are scheduled to use Luis Gil on Thursday in Chicago, so the need for innings was vital. Taillon settled down to give the Yankees 5 ¹/3 against two runs.

Clay Holmes, obtained for two marginal prospect bats, has been the Yankees’ relief version of Nestor Cortes, who went into the rotation full-time late last July and has been the Yankees’ best starter since. Holmes was acquired about the same time and has been the team’s most consistent reliever.

He entered with the Yankees ahead 5-2 in the seventh and induced Vladimir Guerrero Jr., up as the tying run, to hit into a double play. No surprise. Throwing what Boone labeled “a bowling ball,” Holmes began Wednesday with an 81.1 percent ground-ball rate — by far the majors’ best. The ball also never left the infield in a scoreless eighth. Holmes has permitted one run in 16 2/3 innings this year. He has yielded just two walks in 2022 and just two homers in 44 ¹/3 regularseason innings since becoming a Yankee.

He is part of the most diverse talent the Yankees have had in recent seasons. The reflection is in the majors’ best record five weeks into the season.

Despite poor results in The Bronx since his arrival last July, Joey Gallo still has a believer in Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

“I’m not worried about Joey Gallo,’’ Cashman said before the Yankees outfielder singled and lined out to right in a 5-3 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday at the Stadium.

“He’s a really talented player and cares a great deal,’’ Cashman said. “He has a chance every time he’s at the plate to change whatever’s happened prior.”

Entering Wednesday, when Gallo was back in left field, he had a .166 average and .682 OPS as a Yankee after arriving with a .211 average and .833 OPS in seven seasons in Texas.

So far this season, Gallo is reaching base less than ever (.293 OBP) and his power has decreased (.324 slugging).

Cashman added he’s encouraged by how well the Yankees are doing without a lot of production from Gallo, who he said has “a lot of gas in the tank in terms of contributions I think is still there to be had.”

And he pointed to manager Aaron Boone as an example of how a narrative can change quickly.

Boone was traded to the Yankees in the middle of an All-Star year with the Reds in 2003 and slumped for much of the rest of the regular season.

In the middle of a rough postseason, though, Boone hit his famous home run off the Red Sox’s Tim Wakefield in Game 7 of the ALCS to send the Yankees to the World Series.

“Boone really struggled, but he’s gonna be remembered in history for one swing of the bat,” Cashman said. “Gallo is helping us defensively, and offensively he can help with a key walk. There’s a lot of different ways he can contribute. And there’s still a hell of a lot of time on the clock for him to contribute in one big game, in one big series or a floodgate, avalanche of success. He’s certainly capable of it. … Over time, I certainly think he’ll find that higher ground on a consistent basis.”

➤ Josh Donaldson has been dealing with a sore right shoulder since he felt it during the game on Sunday.

“I did work on it after the game and [Monday] it was sore,’’ Donaldson said after sitting out Wednesday’s win over Toronto. “It’s gone now.”

He expects to be able to play third on Thursday in Chicago and added the soreness is in a different spot — the front of his shoulder as opposed to the back — than the spot that bothered him during spring training.

➤ As of Wednesday evening, the Yankees’ game scheduled for Thursday at the Whte Sox had not been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak among the Guardians that caused the Cleveland-Chicago game to be postponed Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

➤ With Luis Gil scheduled to be recalled to make his first start of the season for the Yankees on Thursday, right-hander Ron Marinaccio was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following the game Wednesday.