Shortstop runners-up getting reps at other spots for Yankees
Isiah Kiner-Falefa #12 of the Yankees runs in from center field after the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The lineup the Yankees used for Tuesday night’s visit by Shohei Ohtani & Co. was a regular-season first for manager Aaron Boone, but for astute observers of this team, it probably looked vaguely familiar.
Like if you watched any Grapefruit League games, and ones that required a bus trip to places such as Lakeland or Sarasota. Because this lineup was straight from the Yankees’ experimental stage, when there was technically a shortstop competition still underway, but after Isiah Kiner-Falefa already had conceded the job.
Based on a confluence of early injuries, IFK was reunited Tuesday night with Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza, with IFK back in centerfield for his third start there this season, and the other two as double-play partners, just as they were on numerous occasions in March.
It’s really not how this was all supposed to play out come April, however. Aside from the Volpe part. He won the job with about a week to go in spring training. And despite the fact that Volpe entered Tuesday hitting .191 (9-for-47) with a .309 on-base percentage, he was in the leadoff spot, for the fourth time in his 16 starts.
That’s been a somewhat unusual twist, as Volpe, who turns 22 later this month, was expected to anchor the bottom of the lineup, where the spotlight is slightly dimmer and his speed could help as a second leadoff hitter when resetting the lineup. But with Giancarlo Stanton out with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and Josh Donaldson (hamstring) not expected back for at least another game, the Yankees chose to move DJ LeMahieu further down toward the middle, in the fifth spot behind Gleyber Torres.
Considering that Volpe still is getting adjusted to this level, after spending only 22 games at Triple-A Scranton a year ago, I asked Boone before Tuesday’s game if adding leadoff duty to the highly demanding shortstop gig ran the risk of putting too much on the rookie’s plate too soon. As much as Volpe’s legs make him an ideal candidate — he was 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts — there is an undeniable pressure atop the order, even with the $360 million MVP right behind, a safety net that should ensure he gets a few pitches to hit.
“His DNA is to control the strike zone,” Boone said of Volpe. “I think when he really gets rolling, you’re going to see that at a very high level. Even these first couple weeks, when he hasn’t been on fire yet, you still see that in there. His ability to lay off pitches. So I think he’s cut out for [leadoff]. Obviously, you add the speed mix to it. And I also think, whether it’s hitting ninth or hitting first — the heartbeat, what’s between the ears, he’s equipped to handle it all.”
Which takes us to the March runner-ups in the shortstop derby, with Peraza’s Tuesday cameo likely to be a one-night show as a space filler for Donaldson’s imminent return. Peraza, if you remember, began spring training as the favorite after an impressive late-season run at the position (combined with IKF’s nosedive) but got flat-out beat by Volpe once the Grapefruit League began.
Matching him up again with Volpe was an interesting flashback, and maybe there could come a point again when the two share the infield on a regular basis. But that timetable, which felt closer in March, seems to have been pushed back indefinitely now that Torres has played himself off the trade block to become one of the Yankees’ most dangerous weapons at the plate. Torres’ .925 OPS through 16 games was ranked third behind Anthony Rizzo (.980) and Judge (.977).
While Peraza’s stay figures to be brief this time around, the biggest outlier in Tuesday’s alignment was Kiner-Falefa, though his repeated reps in centerfield are making it a less surprising sight. Only Judge has made more starts at the position (13). With Harrison Bader (oblique) on rehab, and IKF being a quick study there, Aaron Hicks has been pushed to leftfield, where he was for Tuesday’s game.
Kiner-Falefa had only 10 games in the outfield on his professional resume — none in the majors — before the Yankees tried him in center back in March. At the time, it seemed like a last-ditch effort to find him something to do, or at least polish his trade value as a super-utility player. But with Hicks cratering at this whole baseball thing, no matter where the Yankees try to play him, they’ve been forced to get creative during Bader’s extended absence and what figures to be a prolonged IL stay for Stanton.
To date, the Yankees hadn’t been hurt by any of these machinations, and Tuesday’s Grapefruit League vibe shouldn’t have felt all that unusual. Only this time, in the Bronx, it counts.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
