STANTON HAS OUTFIELD HOPES
Giancarlo Stanton may play right field at times in Yankees home games this year and Aaron Judge could be shifted to the more spacious left field in the Bronx.
“I think I have more of a flow when I’m in the outfield,” Stanton said Tuesday after the Yankees’ second full-squad workout. “Being in the outfield, you’re kind of more engaged in the game whereas DH you’re inside a lot of the time staying warm and hitting, and kind of watching the game from the TV as opposed to being out more engaged.”
Gold Glove winner Harrison Bader, acquired at last year’s trade deadline, figures to get the bulk of the starts in center.
“If we need to put Big G in right field at Yankee Stadium, move me to left, I don’t mind it,” Judge said. “I don’t mind switching around, so we can have Bader, me and the Big G out there. We’ll get some (game) reps hopefully at spring training and be comfortable out there.”
Judge played 78 games in center last year and 73 in right. He hasn’t played left field since 2016 at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“I’m open to things like that, especially in the home ballpark,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ll just see how that goes in letting that play out. No decision on that yet but it’s on my board.”
Alvarez slowed by sore hand
Astros All-Star Yordan Alvarez has a sore left hand that will keep him out of batting practice for a few days in spring training.
Alvarez told reporters that soreness in the hand was an issue at times last year and continued to “flare up a bit at times” during the offseason. Alvarez said he told team officials about the sore hand when he reported to camp.
Despite the soreness, Alvarez hit .306 with 37 homers and 97 RBIs and finished third in the AL MVP voting for the World Series champion Astros.
A new Wild Thing?
Braves right-hander Spencer Strider has changed his number from 65 to 99 for his second season.
The hard-throwing Strider finished second to teammate Michael Harris II in the NL Rookie of the Year voting and then plotted a uniform number change. He was inspired by the hardthrowing fictional star of the baseball movie “Major League.”
“Picking your jersey number in baseball to me has always been something of importance and my favorite movie is Major League and I like Rick Vaughn ,soI see some similarities between Wild Thing and myself,” Strider said.
Notable
First baseman Luke Voit
and outfielder Tyler Naquin
agreed to minor league contracts with the Milwaukee Brewers and will report to major league spring training. Voit, 32, hit .226 with 22 homers and 69 RBIs in 135 games with the Padres and Washington last season. He became a free agent when the Nationals failed to offer a 2023 contract.
• A guest of the Pittsburgh Pirates required emergency medical attention after suffering cardiac arrest while fielding fly balls on a practice field. Ernie Withers, 69, was shagging balls at the team’s spring training complex when he had “a medical event” that required immediate attention and caused practice to stop.