The Yankees announced Friday that they’ve reinstated first baseman Luke Voit from the injured list and placed third baseman Gio Urshela on the 10-day IL due to a left groin injury.
Voit, 28, hasn’t played in a month thanks to an abdominal injury that, at one point, looked like it could require surgery. Rather than undergo a sports hernia procedure, though, the burgeoning slugger was able to rest and rehab the injury sufficiently enough to suit up for a minor league rehab assignment recently. To say that Voit didn’t miss a beat would perhaps be putting things mildly; in four games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he went 8-for-17 with two doubles, two home runs and two walks (against two strikeouts).
This marked the second time in 2019 that Voit missed time due to abdominal injuries, but those have been the only blemish on an otherwise excellent showing in his first full season of big league duty. In 94 games (416 plate appearances), he’s hitting .278/.392/.493 with 19 home runs, 16 doubles and a triple. Overall, he’s raked at a .293/.395/.547 clip in Yankee Pinstripes, although the trade that brought him from St. Louis to the Bronx now looks quite a bit less lopsided in light of righty Giovanny Gallegos’ own breakout in the Cardinals’ bullpen.
Speaking of breakouts (and of players named Giovanny), the 27-year-old Urshela has erupted at the plate this summer. Long touted as a steady defender with questionable offensive capabilities, he’s not only looked like a potential regular but been one of the Yankees’ best hitters. In 414 trips to the dish, he’s laid waste to MLB pitching with a .331/.370/.555 batting line.
While his .366 average on balls in play still looks ripe for some regression, Urshela’s hard-hit rate and average exit velocity are both well above the league average. Statcast pegs him as one of the game’s leaders in expected batting average, slugging percentage and weight on-base average. In short: he’s hitting with excellent power and demonstrating previously unseen levels of power. Offensive breakouts throughout the league abound in 2019 amid questions about structural changes to the baseball itself, but it’s impossible to ignore just how valuable Urshela has been for the Yankees to date.
The Yankees didn’t provide any sort of timeline on Urshela, so it remains unclear just how long he’ll be sidelined. Presumably, manager Aaron Boone will have an update later tonight. In his absence, the Yankees can still lean on a high-quality quartet of Voit, DJ LeMahieu, Didi Gregorius and Gleyber Torres around the infield, though the roster is unequivocally stronger with a healthy Urshela in tow.
It never ends wtf
Everyone’s hurt
Let’s hope the injury to Urshela isn’t serious. The Yanks are a better team when both he and DJ are in the lineup.
My goodness this team is soft. Wont make it past the first round.
Yanks live in your head, rent free…
incredible how crazy this is getting. bring back the 15-day!
Santa, I’m a Red Sox fan. All I ask for in 2020 is:
-JBJ gets non-tendered.
-Benintendi has been the same hitter for 3 years. He’s about 6 years behind the launch-angle revolution. Get him up to speed.
-IF JD walks, THEN the following happens: Mookie is moved to CF after winning an arbitration case, Rusney Castillo takes steroids and either earns his $11 mil at the MLB level or fails a drug test and gets suspended and since you don’t get paid during PED suspensions gives us $5-$8 mil for the bullpen help we’ll probably need again (a win-win either way), Marcell Ozuna is signed mid-March to a 2 year/$25 mil deal with a vesting $15 mil option on a 3rd year on a “Bruh you hit .240 last year; prove you’re still worth it” contract, some combination of a roided Castillo/bounce-back from Ozuna supresses Mookie’s Free Agent contract after the 2020 season. Forget all of that if JD doesn’t opt out. Anyway:
-Both Chris Sale and David Price earn their paychecks to the same extent as Zach Greinke.
-Ryan Brasier, Colten Brewer, and Matt Barnes get cured of the whiplash from all the extra base hits they allow.
-Sandy Leon is allowed to walk and Martin Maldonado is signed to be Chris Sale’s caddy because he’s gone by the 4th inning when Vazquez catches him, Vazquez can mash catching the other 4 guys.
-E Rod shows up to play before June 1st.
-Vince Velazquez gets a choke hold on a rotation spot.
-Darwinzon Hernandez does something besides get hurt in AAA/beat up in the Bigs.
-Porcello isn’t touched unless he wants 2/$6 mil to be a reliever.
-Sam Travis does what Mitch Moreland/Steve Pearce were supposed to do this year.
-Chavis is as okay at 2B as Joey Gallo is in CF.
-Pedroia retires so that he’s not drinking bahama mamas and getting paid (“rehabbing”).
Not a lot, help me out, big guy. I’ve been good this year.
I think our Christmas lists are conflicting, which will Santa choose??
Hope he comes back soon as I love this guy ! In the meantime voit plays first and DJ plays third.
Speaking of DJ not only has his bat been amazing but his versatility has been too. In a season that has had many of our players injured at one point he has been able to play good to very good defense around the diamond. As such he should be a serious candidate for the 2019 AL mvp award. Trout has the flashy numbers like war in his favor but if you are being objective DJ deserves it this season at this point. Like seriously how is this not the definition of a true MVP ?
DJ does deserve to be mentioned for MVP. Guys like him get overlooked though. He has gone above and beyond what was expected of him.
For the record, I felt DJ was a excellent player in Colorado. I felt his numbers would come down some leaving the Rockies, but they haven’t. He is doing great.
He is having a extremely similar season to the one José altuve had two years ago. If altuve could beat Judge for the award that year than there is no reason why DJ can’t beat trout for it this year. I can’t believe the Rockies let this guy leave !
As much as I like DJ and the value he brings to the team, Trout is the best player in baseball. Lets say the entire league of baseball has a big fantasy draft and youre given the first pick. Are you gonna choose DJ over Trout? I’d hope not.
Despite being the best in the game he hasn’t won the award every single year he has played and he hasn’t impacted the pennant race (not his fault but still). Why should this year be different? The league needs to have a true definition of this award and it’s been long overdue. It’s “most valuable player” not just “best player”
But the most valuable player is the best player in the league. In the aforementioned scenario where youre given the 1st overall pick you would most likely value Trout over DJ and then pick Trout. Unless injuries shorten his season, Trout is the most valuable player every year.
@Begamin
Trout deserves the MVP because of his season but there’s plenty of history that shows they don’t always go with the guy having the best year especially if he’s on a losing team.
When Andre Dawson won it with the Cubs the team was horrible. When Kirk Gibson won it with the Dodgers his numbers were underwhelming but he was the “staw that stirred the drink” for the Dodgers and took them to the WS.
It’s not unusual for the best player in the game to not win it despite having a great year. Guys like Jordan, LBJ, Trout and Bonds can post ridiculous numbers and still lose to guys on winning teams with great but not amazing numbers. DJ is a legit candidate. He’s been the one truly consistent player this year. Not taking anything away from Gio or Torres.
Dont get me wrong, DJ should be an MVP candidate for the season he has had this year. Defense, offense, the value he brings by playing multiple positions, the whole 9 yards. However, Trout is still more valuable.
The guy never hit more than 15 home runs in Colorado and yet somehow has 23 already. Not suspicious at all. No sir.
Let’s see if we can solve this mystery for you. A natural up the middle to opposite field hitter moves from Coors where it’s 375 in right center to 350 down the right field line to Yankee Stadium where it’s 385 to 314. Mystery solved.
@begamin I’m not arguing that. That’s why I said Trout deserves it if your going by best payers player. But he’s had no impact on them winning whereas DJ has. Often it’s a player on a winning team. There’s no consistency in how the voters vote. We’ve seen both scenarios. Best player on a winning team to player with the best numbers on a bad team.
If MLB goes back to the “old”
baseball will all these breakout
players turn back into pumpkins?
Bring back the ghost of Gene Monahan