Aaron Hicks designated for assignment; 'I loved being a Yankee'

CINCINNATI — His voice cracking, his eyes still filled with fresh tears, Aaron Hicks pondered his eight seasons in the Bronx and the whirlwind of the previous hour when he found out he had donned a Yankees uniform for the last time.

“I loved being a Yankee,” Hicks, in street clothes and wearing a backpack, told Newsday on Saturday afternoon outside the visitor’s clubhouse at Great American Ball Park, pausing to talk before he continued what would be a short trip back to the team hotel. “It was the best time of my career.”

Hicks, owed nearly $30 million through the 2025 season,  was designated for assignment Saturday to make room on the roster for outfielder Greg Allen, whom the Yankees obtained from the Red Sox on Friday night for minor- league righthander Diego Hernandez and cash considerations.

Hicks, popular among his teammates but among the more unpopular Yankees with the fan base in recent memory because of his struggles during the last several seasons, hit .188 with a .524 OPS in 28 games this season. The switch-hitting outfielder had shown some positive signs in the last week with a 6-for-17 (.353) stretch at the time of his release.

“Looking forward to a new chapter,” Hicks said. “As of right now, just thinking about all the good times I had here with the team, how much I enjoyed playing for this organization.”

Hicks, 33, a first-round pick of the Twins (taken 14th overall) in 2008, was traded to the Yankees by Minnesota in November 2015 for catcher John Ryan Murphy.

Aaron Boone, Hicks’ manager since 2018, informed the outfielder  of the organization’s decision in his office a couple of hours before Saturday’s game.

Boone called the conversation a “difficult” one, saying not much was said by either party during the closed-door meeting.

“It was eerie,” Boone said. “That kind of deafening silence, and I think has to do with a guy that’s been here and done a lot here.”

Hicks hit .232 with 81 homers and a .735 OPS with the Yankees. The last three years were especially rough as he hit a combined .209 with 13 homers and a .625 OPS in 190 games. That included 2021, when Hicks was limited to 32 games after undergoing season-ending surgery in May of that season to repair a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist.

Hicks became more or less a part-time player in the second half of last season, a role he never warmed to and never excelled in.

“I don’t think anybody really ever sees it coming,” Hicks said of being DFA’d. “It’s a tough role, a tough position. Not easy.”

But Hicks said among the emotions he felt, anger was not one of them.

“That’s not really something I’m thinking about right now,” he said. “It’s more about being here for eight years, friendships that you start to have with certain guys. That’s really what I think about . . .  The teammates I’ve had were amazing. The people here. The organization that helped me become a better player. All of it.”

Rortvedt finally debuts

Catcher Ben Rortvedt, who came to the Yankees in spring training 2022 along with Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Josh Donaldson in the deal that sent Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Twins, played his first big-league game with the Yankees on Saturday, and it could not have gone much better.

The lefthanded-hitting Rortvedt, 25, went 2-for-2 and just missed a homer in his first at-bat, hitting a rope off the leftfield wall that went for a double.

“It was awesome,” Rortvedt said after the Yankees’ 7-4 victory over the Reds. “Just trying to do my best to pull my own weight and keep us in the game.”

Rortvedt started in place of Kyle Higashioka, now the regular catcher with Jose Trevino on the injured list with a left hamstring strain.

Speaking of debuts . . .

Righthander Luis Severino, who started the season on the injured list with a right lat strain, will make his 2023 Yankees debut Sunday against the Reds in a game slated to start at 11:35 a.m.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.