CHICAGO — In his last 10 games, Aaron Hicks has put up some fierce fighting, and for Friday night’s game against the White Sox, he dropped himself to the No. 9 spot in the lineup. Hicks hasn’t been at the bottom of the starting lineup since 2017.
Aaron Boone said it was not taking pressure or pressure from a struggling outfielder. Instead, he sees his on-base percentage as something that he can take advantage of when he finds his power. Hicks is one of the best in the league in drawing walks with an 18% walk rate.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said earlier Friday, “One of the things that Aaron’s doing really well is still getting on base and having nine holes at that base presence is something that I value and a Can work as a double leadoff hitter.” night game. “He can come on base tonight, in front of our guys, in front of the judges, Donaldson and Stanton, so that’s what I really value so far. I think it’s valuable.”
In the last 10 games, the center fielder is 2-for-30 or .067/.263/.067. Overall, he is hitting .215/.364/.253 with .617 OPS, the second lowest level of his career.
Hello again
After just one start in the minors, Clark Schmidt was back with the Yankees on Friday. The right-hander took over the left after the Yankees took spot starter Louis Gill back in Triple-A.
Schmidt began the season with the Yankees, making four appearances and pitching for a 1.08 ERA with eight strikeouts in 8.1 innings. He was sent to Triple-A on May 1, when the rosters were reduced from 28 to 26. The plan at the time was to spread him as a starter.
He went in 2.1 innings, making two earned runs on three hits. He scored two runs and scored three runs in his only debut.
“I mean, it’s tough. It’s a little bit of an environmental change. But yes, it was good to count your pitch. It was my main goal to build that kind of pitch to go down,” Schmidt said. “And so I had like 50 (pitches) in my last start, so I mean, I’ll assume I’m available for around 70 or 80 whenever the need arises. So yeah, it’s great to be involved. ,
Gill conceded four innings to the Yankees on Thursday night, but the Bombers had to send him back to refill his bullpen with Schmidt.
“He’s still got some length, not a perfect start, but he’s a guy who can give us some innings in the bullpen,” Boone said. “He’s bowled the ball really well for us when he was here and in his outings, so he’s the kind of guy that when we go to him, we have a lot of confidence in him and like he would have been in the season. is.”
RORTVEDT UPDATE
Ben Rortvedt, the Yankees catcher obtained from the Twins, has been locked up with a knee problem. Boone said they are trying to figure out what it really is.
“We’re trying to wrap our heads around him and so he got caught the other day and then the knee was holding onto him a little bit,” Boone said. “Then we’ll have to see.” Boone said he expected the tests to be done soon.
Rortvedt returned to the field after missing most of spring training with a skewed strain that the Yankees knew when they got him in the deal, which sent Gary Sanchez and Gio Ursella to twins and Isiah Kiner- Falefa, brought back Josh Donaldson. and Rortvedt.
The Yankees were very high on the young catcher, who is considered an excellent receiver. When an indirect injury slowed his recovery, the Yankees went out and traded for Jose Trevino. So Rortvedt is clearly not included in the big league picture at the moment.
“We are clearly, knocking on the woods, in pretty good shape with our catching position right now,” Boone said. “But still, we are really excited about him and what he brings to the table. So we just have to get him and it looks like at some point he will play a factor in us.”
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