The New York Yankees have a few weeks of spring training under their belt. What are some early takeaways for the Bronx Bombers?
The New York Yankees started playing spring training games just over two weeks ago. In that span, a lot has happened—some good, some not so good. Regardless, we’ve gotten a solid look at how some players have performed early on in spring training with just a few weeks remaining.
Conclusions should never be drawn from spring training. Especially this early into it, the sample size is too small to give any definitive, concrete answers. Still, there are some trends and storylines taking place. Whether it’s with a players’ performance or injuries impacting position battles, we’ve gotten an early look after a handful of games.
Spring training ends on March 24. Here are some early takeaways we’ve gathered since the start of the games on Feb. 22:
Injuries are racking up
Surprise, surprise. The Yankees are dealing with injuries that happened late in the 2019 season. They are dealing with injuries that popped up over the last few weeks. Regardless, the Yankees are dealing with injuries again. It’s put a pretty big damper on spring training thus far. Outfielders Aaron Judge (ribs) and Giancarlo Stanton (calf) are out indefinitely with their respective injuries. Both could miss Opening Day.
Right-hander Luis Severino underwent Tommy John surgery. He’s done for the year. Lefty starter James Paxton (back) is making progress but won’t be ready until a few months into the season. Catcher Gary Sánchez is dealing with a back injury that will keep him out most of this week. It’s just been one after another with the injury news for the Yankees, seemingly continuing a never-ending cycle.
Some of these injuries are short term. Some of them don’t have a concrete timetable. But it’s impossible to talk about this spring training without bringing up the fact that so many players are dealing with injuries.