Despite being destroyed by injuries to begin the 2019 season, the New York Yankees are embracing their “next-man-up” mantra.
This season has not gone as the New York Yankees would have liked, which is a statement that has been uttered far too often this season and following that statement the “next-man-up” mantra was adopted.
Injury Woes
It’s been covered at nausea how the injuries have ravaged the Yankees locker room. It’s as if the Night King and Thanos decided that the New York Yankees were the target of their concerted tandem efforts this season and the Yankees would have the depth they built up rested right from the outset of the 2019 campaign. As of this writing, 13 players are on the Injured List.
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The list includes entire starting outfield of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Hicks. Didi Gregorius and Miguel Andújar, the left side of the infield, yep, that’s lost too. The Ace, Luis Severino and the top setup man in the game Dellin Betances can’t even pick up a baseball for at least another month. Our fifth starter and outfielder (Jordan Montgomery, Clint Frazier.) And to add in for good measure the backup shortstop (Troy Tulowitzki) the former heir apparent to first base (Greg Bird.) A quality bullpen arm (Ben Heller) and the only not surprising one, Jacoby Ellsbury.
Out of Necessity
There’s no question that it was out of necessity that the mantra ”Next Man Up” was adopted for this season. It felt as if every other day the Yankees were losing a player to the IL and the expected success going into the season looked bleak at best. But it was then during that time when the ”Scranton Shuttle” was working double that the Yankees found themselves. It was at that moment in time that “next-man-up” wasn’t just a clever catchphrase or a headline buzzword. But that’s the moment that it became the basis this team would build upon for the 2019 season.
Since the game that Aaron Judge went down with a left oblique strain against the Kansas City Royals, the Yankees have played nine games and have won eight of them. What was born out of a necessity to say something to the media because it’s a long season, became the rallying call. The ”Next Man Up” mantra became the war cry for the 2019 New York Yankees.
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Riding the Rally Cry
The Yankees are coming to a point now where they should be getting back some of their injured Superstars. Today the Bronx Bombers will see the return of their starting third baseman, Miguel Andújar. It’s also been reported that Aaron Hicks and Didi Gregorius are making progress. On this, the fourth of May the Yankees are 18-13 and if the injured begin to return the Yankees .580 winning percentage is likely to increase even higher.