3:35pm: Bauers is indeed heading to New York, Kirschner and colleague Brendan Kuty write in further detail, but his contract has not yet been formally selected. The team is waiting on the results of an MRI that Judge underwent and could keep him on the taxi squad for now, depending on the results of Judge’s imaging.
3:01pm: The Yankees are set to select the contract of first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers from Triple-A Scranton, reports Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter link). New York will need to open space on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters in order to accommodate Bauers.
Bauers, 27, once ranked among the sport’s top prospects but never found his footing in Tampa Bay, Cleveland or Seattle, batting a combined .213/.307/.348 in 1126 plate appearances between the three teams from 2018-21. He signed a minor league pact with the Yankees back in December and opened the season in Scranton, where he’s been on an absolute tear.
Through his first 87 plate appearances with the RailRiders, Bauers has turned in a comical .319/.460/.812 batting line with nine home runs, five doubles, a triple, five stolen bases, a 20.7% walk rate and an 18.4% strikeout rate. Kirschner wrote about Bauers’ performance in Scranton yesterday, noting that he’s made substantial alterations to his swing path and approach at the plate. Manager Aaron Boone told Kirschner that Bauers “definitely caught our eye” and was someone the organization was paying close attention to while seeking ways to escape the offensive doldrums that have plagued the Yankee lineup for much of the season.
In his career, Bauers has logged nearly twice many innings at first base (5151) as in the outfield (2587). However, he’s spent 91 innings in the outfield corners this year compared to just 40 at first base. Given the Yankees’ woeful production in left field this year and Anthony Rizzo’s strong performance at first base, it stands to reason that Bauers will be viewed more as a left field option than as a complement to Rizzo at first.
So far in 2023, Yankees left fielders have been among the least-productive in baseball, batting a combined .209/.273/.308. The combination of Oswaldo Cabrera, Aaron Hicks and Franchy Cordero haven’t produced at all when lining up in left field, and the Yankees have also received sub-par production from Willie Calhoun in right field and at designated hitter. Cabrera certainly isn’t a candidate to lose his spot on the 40-man roster, but any of Calhoun, Cordero and perhaps even Hicks ostensibly have less secure grasps on their current roster spots.
Beyond the dearth of production in left field, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is currently banged up. Judge exited yesterday’s contest with discomfort in his hip, and while initial indications were that he’ll avoid a stint on the injured list, the team will surely have more information today. Even if Judge is indeed just sidelined for a game or two, Bauers will give the Yankees another option in the outfield corners while the reigning AL MVP is on the mend.
Bauers has been ripping it up at Scranton! Not a surprising move. Who’s going Franchy Cordero or Willie Calhoun?
Neither would be a big loss. Be nice if it is Hicks.
I’d imagine its Franchy who loses his spot.
As someone who has watched Bauers try and fail repeatedly at the major league level and as a Guardians fan who has seen our cast-offs on occasion go to New York and suddenly become Mike Schmidt (I’m looking at you Gio Urshela), let me just say that if Bauers hits more than .550 OPS I’m going to deeply pissed off.
I’ll raise your .550 OPS to .620 OPS and then you can sleep well at night, because the chances Bauer hits that are fairly remote.
That’s what I thought about Urshela, too.
Or Voit, Choi, Carpenter, etc.
Well, he is only 27 which is when most of the late bloomers finally figure it out. Yankees always seem to find someone who has a career year off the scrapheap season after season. Unfortunately, they usually turn back into a pumpkin after signing elsewhere the following year.
I was thinking it would be news of a Judge IL stint, but that only opens up a spot on the 40-man if he’s placed on the 60-day IL. I’m assuming Calhoun is gonna be DFA’d, as much as the Yanks’ fans want to see Hicks gone.
Yeah, most likely Calhoun. Hicks will surely be gone though whenever the Yankees get fully healthy, which probably won’t happen ever at this point, so he’ll end up sticking around for the whole season if I had to guess.
Calhoun can now embark on those ” Dorf on Hitting” instructional videos.
Winner of today’s funny post! Lol! Good job, you
They need to do this. Enough of this Calhoun/Cordero nonsense.
Im glad Judge isnt injury prone. Bahahahaha! DeNile is a river running straight through Yankee Stadium.
Judge has done some diving recently in the outfield and on the bases, correct? Diving basically smashes your pelvis and hips into the ground.
And that’s the cost of acquiring a CF like Bader, who is himself injury-prone, forcing Judge to cover all that territory in center. It’s like Cashman should turn his acquisition strategy upside-down and make a priority of acquiring healthy ballplayers.
But Judge didn’t get hurt playing the field.
Yeah he’s been doing baseball things as all other players.
If Judge goes on the IL then Trivino to the 60 day. If not then DFA Calhoun.
they should just DFA him 😉
We shouldn’t jump to conclusions on the extent of Judge’s injury. With today’s huge contracts, a MRI will be ordered for anything resembling a sprain, tear, bruise, or break. Every little detail must be documented.
can’t hear the phrase “jump to conclusions” without thinking of office space
The miracle last year wasn’t Judge hitting 62, it was him staying healthy for a full season
Yeah, that’s why he wont hit 62 hrs again. I said before the year started that he’s gonna get about 40-45. Not because he’ll hit a lot worse but because he’ll probably miss a month of games
And this is why it was a lose-lose situation this off-season with Judge. You knew health would be a major concern going forward but they have very little offense without him. And Cashman just keeps playing the air drums in his office all day without repercussion.
Boone should not be benching Volpe. I hope it backfires. One of the few hitting with runners on base. He’s just been coming around. Personally, I am not watching!
Volpe isn’t getting benched. He’s getting a night off.
Albatross contract for the 31 year old fragile playoff choker Aaron Judge.
I know, pay a player with a history of injury $360M and guarantee it then hope he won’t get injured in the first month.
For God’s sake, trade for Luis Robert and be done with it. It’s not like the White Sox need him for the next few years.