Injuries Taking Toll on Yankees Outfield
The New York Yankees have played just four games of their 162-game schedule but are already dealing with troubling issues over injuries that over the weekend were compounded more due to early exits by two players.
Young, talented left fielder Billy McKinney, who was playing in only his second major league game following his debut on Friday, left Saturday’s game during the first inning after crashing hard in the left-centerfield wall while trying to make a catch.
Later during the same game, New York’s Adam Warren, a reliever, was taken out after bruising his ankle when he was struck by a comebacker to the mound.
X-rays for both players turned up negative, but McKinney was diagnosed as having an AC joint sprain of his shoulder after the orthopedist for the Blue Jays examined him. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters that McKinney would sit out a couple of weeks.
McKinney will be put on the team’s disabled list and Miguel Andujar will be recalled from the minors to fill his place on the roster. Boone said the team feels there is a place they can find to give Andujar playing time.
Boone indicated that Andujar would give the team someone capable of playing third or first and he would see time as the team’s designated hitter as a reshuffle is done of their lineup.
Warren is to be given a re-evaluation in the next few days, said Boone while the Yankees determine how they would move forward with or without him as an option in relief.
On Friday, outfielder Aaron Hicks was placed on the 10-day DL after he developed a muscle strain near his rib cage. He is expected to return once the DL period ends. On Friday, McKinney got the call up to take the spot of Hicks on the team’s roster.
Besides Hicks, the team is playing without outfielders Clint Frazier and Jacoby Ellsbury. Frazier hit the wall during spring training with his head and suffered a concussion. More than one month later and he is not yet cleared to play.
Ellsbury has an oblique problem that is improved to the point he can appear in spring training game for the minor league in Tampa. New York hopes Ellsbury will return when his stint on the DL ends Thursday when they will be in New York to host the Orioles.
On Saturday, Aaron Judge played center for the first time as a professional, while Giancarlo Stanton played right and Brett Gardner in left after McKinney was hurt.
