Chase is on for better defense

TAMPA — Chase Headley says he’s “not panicked about” his uncharacteristic defensive shortcomings last season. But the Yankee third baseman still knows he’s got to do better with the glove and intends to make that a spring priority.

“I never say anything’s a fluke,” Headley said Wednesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “I don’t think it’s the norm, certainly. I think I’m a lot closer to the player I’ve been for the majority of my career than I was last year. But I don’t take it for granted.

“We’ve looked at some film and I think

for me it all starts with a base, trying to have good footwork. We’ll try to focus on that in spring training. It’s an area that I was extremely disappointed with last year. We’ll try to do better this year.”

Headley made a career-worst 23 errors at third last season, beating his career-high by 10. Joe Girardi opined that throwing was Headley’s main problem in 2015.

Headley struggled at the plate, too, though his overall offensive numbers were closer to his career norms. Headley batted .259 with a .324 on-base and .369 slugging; his lifetime slash line is .264/.344/.403.

“I know what I’ve done in the past,” he said. “I have a track record. That’s certainly not the track record that I’ve had before.”

Headley says a past back issue is no longer a problem, and it sounds like he did more in his off-season conditioning program.

“I was able to ramp it up this year and I was able to lift a lot heavier, smarter, than I had in the past. I certainly feel like I’m probably stronger than I was at the same point last year.”

Of course, just as spring is the time for baseball optimism, it’s when every player is in great shape, too. Headley knows performance has to follow now.

“Just talking from the coaches to the front office, I think they understand that last year was hopefully an outlier,” Headley said.