May 27th, 2024: Judge, Soto, LeMahieu, Gómez, Volpe, Rizzo, Bullpen

It hadn’t occurred to me that Petco Park was the Yankees’ longest ballpark “drought” until Michael Kay mentioned it during Friday’s broadcast. Before this weekend the Yankees had not played in Petco Park since 2016 (not counting the 2020 pandemic postseason). They had played in each of the other 29 stadiums since then. The new longest ballpark drought: Wrigley Field. The Yankees haven’t played on Chicago’s north side since this happened in May 2017. They’ll visit Wrigley Field this Sept. 6-8. Here now is Tuesday morning’s post on Monday. I’m running this a day early to get it out of my hair during the long Memorial Day weekend. Sorry it’s shorter than usual, but a) it is a holiday weekend, and b) I have an extra post coming later this week. Let’s get to it.

1. Weekend thoughts. Saturday’s win marked the one-third point of the season and through those first 54 games, the Yankees were on pace to go 111-51 with a +285 run differential. No, they’re (probably) not going to win 111 games, but a third of the way into 2024, the Yankees have scored the most runs in the American League and allowed the fewest runs in baseball, and the reigning Cy Young winner has yet to throw a pitch. After last season, the Yankees needed a good start, and they’ve had a great start. Here are a few thoughts on the Padres series.

Eight pitches, three dingers

Yu Darvish entered Friday’s game working on a career best 25-inning scoreless streak and having allowed only two home runs in 47.2 innings on the season. Then the Yankees took him deep three times in the span of eight pitches in the third inning, and four times on the night overall. Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton all clubbed mammoth dingers in that third inning (video). Gleyber Torres went deep an inning later. Giancarlo hit the ball so hard the Padres broadcast advertised a mental health crisis line.

“I thought we took some really great swings. We got a guy on and then Juan did his thing. He really started the fireworks. But it was a bunch of guys taking great swings,” Judge told Shaun O’Neill. “…  We’re a Big Nine. A Big 26. Everybody in this clubhouse plays a big part. I would never narrow it down to just (a Big Three). Everybody here is a stud in their own right. We’re a part of something special.”

Darvish throws eight pitches regularly (four-seamer, sinker, cutter, splitter, traditional slider, sweeper, and two variations of a curveball) though the Yankees took such comfortable swings against him early on that I thought he might be tipping his pitches. Former Padre Eric Hosmer pointed out it was likely catcher Luis Campusano tipping with the way he set up behind the plate. (Gary Sánchez had issues doing that at various points with the Yankees.)

Including Gleyber, the Yankees hit four homers in the span of six batters Friday, then Darvish settled down and retired eight of the final 11 hitters he faced. Two of the three baserunners were ground ball singles with eyes, including one off Luis Arraez’s glove at first base. The Yankees went from being on everything Darvish threw to not so much. Perhaps the Padres corrected the tipping issue then? I dunno.

What I do know is the Yankees are a machine. The offense is a threat to score every inning – the Yankees already have more four-homer games in 2024 (five) than they did in 2023 (four) – and my goodness, the rotation has been out of this world. Twelve times this season the Yankees have gotten a start of at least six scoreless innings. They had only 11 such starts last year, and Gerrit Cole had six of them. 

Judge is on the warpath. The guy had a historic rookie season, set the American League’s single-season home run record two years ago, and has performed at an MVP level in every other season of his career. He has been nothing but an elite performer since 2017 and yet somehow May 2024 is the best month of his career. Here are his numbers this month and where they stack up to every other month of his career:

• AVG: .383 (1st – .380 in Sept. 2022 is 2nd best)

• OBP: .500 (2nd – .533 in Sept. 2022 is best)

• SLG: .938 (1st – .889 in Sept. 2017 is 2nd best)

• wRC+: 297 (1st – 261 in Sept. 2022 is 2nd best)

• XBH: 23 (1st – 22 in Sept. 2017 is 2nd best) 

The only reason Judge had a higher OBP in Sept. 2022 is because the other team kept walking him. He was the only Yankee hitting that month, plus no one wanted to be on the wrong end of No. 60 or No. 61 or No. 62. As lost as Judge looked in April – and he looked LAWST – these last few weeks are the best he’s ever been. I feel dumb for being a bit worried last month.

"I just got to jump a lot,” Alex Verdugo told Chris Kirschner about hitting behind Judge. “I gotta get up there and do the arm (smash) with him. I gotta jump about two feet higher than he does. It's a grind."

Judge is so hot that Soto’s walk rate has cratered, relatively speaking. Soto has 11 walks in 106 plate appearances in May, or 10.4%. No one wants to pitch to Judge with runners on base so they’re going after Soto, who’s hitting .290/.368/.559 (160 wRC+) this month. They’d rather take their chances with that guy than Judge. Maybe it’s a complete coincidence, but this dip coincides perfectly with Judge going nuclear:

The wins are routine and almost easy, and the losses feel like accidents. Allowing four runs in an inning with one ball being hit out of the infield like Sunday, Clay Holmes blowing a three-run lead like last week, Michael Tonkin being forced into extra-innings like Milwaukee, that kinda thing. Weird stuff that doesn’t happen often. When that’s what it takes to lose, you’re in good shape, and that’s where the Yankees are right now.

“We had a lot of high expectations for this group. You wear the pinstripes and play in New York, you’re expected to win,” Judge told O’Neill. “I think this group knew that coming into camp.  This group has shown up every single day. Even after a tough loss or a couple tough losses in a row, they show up the next day ready to go. So hats off to everybody.”

Berti down, Smith up, LeMahieu coming

The roster crunches always have a way of taking care of themselves, don’t they? Just a few days before the Yankees were going to have to drop someone to clear a spot for DJ LeMahieu, Jon Berti blew out his calf running to first base (video) and will be out long-term with a high-grade strain. Oswaldo Cabrera and vibes guy Jahmai Jones will both stick around now. One of them was a goner to make room for LeMahieu.

“They’re still kind of getting doctor’s opinions about having a true timeline and everything, but it’s going to be a while,” Aaron Boone told Randy Miller (subs. req’d) about Berti. “They didn’t put a number on it.”

LeMahieu’s already had one setback in his recovery, so the Yankees didn’t rush him back this weekend to replace Berti. They let him finish his rehab assignment as it was mapped out, and he’ll rejoin the Yankees on Tuesday. They needed a short-term infielder to replace Berti and, rather than make the easy move and call up Oswald Peraza, they summoned Kevin Smith. That allowed Peraza to continue playing in Triple-A after missing so much time with his injury. Smith sat on the bench in San Diego for a few days.

Even before Berti’s injury, Boone said LeMahieu would take over as the starting third baseman, and now the need is even greater at the hot corner. Cabrera got some big hits for the Yankees earlier this year, though he is trending down and getting exposed as an everyday player. Instead of having Berti and LeMahieu available and thus having a deeper roster overall, it’s just LeMahieu. It is what it is.

I don’t know what to expect from LeMahieu, who turns 36 in a few weeks and is coming off a major injury, and has been a league average-ish hitter the last few years. Then again, he was great in the second half last year, and the Yankees are having such a charmed season that he just might return as 2019-20 LeMahieu. Wouldn’t that be something? I wouldn’t bet on it, but maybe.

Boone confirmed Sunday that Anthony Volpe will remain the leadoff hitter when LeMahieu returns and that’s the right move. He’s been great up there the last few weeks. I see no reason to make a change. I assume the lineup will look like this come Tuesday:

1. SS Anthony Volpe
2. RF Juan Soto
3. CF Aaron Judge
4. LF Alex Verdugo
5. DH Giancarlo Stanton
6. 1B Anthony Rizzo
7. 3B DJ LeMahieu
8. 2B Gleyber Torres
9. Catcher

Basically the same lineup the Yankees have used most of the season, only with minor shuffling in the 7-8-9 spots. No need to make big changes, you know? And I can say with reasonable certainty that LeMahieu won’t care even a tiny little bit about hitting at the bottom of the lineup. Torres too. The Yankees don’t have anyone who will make a big stink about where they hit on a given day.

It’s too bad Berti got hurt, he’s a really useful role player, but at least LeMahieu will be back soon to fill the third base void. I don’t know what to expect from him so I’ll just hope for the best. Third base is an area the Yankees can clearly stand to improve. It would be swell if the solution is in-house and LeMahieu takes care of it. Get well soon, Jon. And welcome back, DJ.

(Roster housekeeping: LeMahieu was put on the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man roster spot for Smith. It’s just a paper move. LeMahieu’s still eligible to be activated Tuesday. The Yankees wouldn’t have done it otherwise. Smith will be DFAed to clear spot for LeMahieu. He was DFAed and cleared waivers a few weeks ago. I bet he clears this time around too.)

Burdi hurt again, Gómez’s cameo

Nick Burdi’s hip flared up again last week and he was placed on the injured list Friday – “I don’t know how long it’s going to be,” Boone told Greg Joyce – and rather than bring Ron Marinaccio back, the Yankees called up Yoendrys Gómez as an temporary long man. He was sent down after Sunday's game to make room for Ian Hamilton's return Tuesday, so it was only a short-term thing. Still, my No. 16 prospect is up for a few days.

Gómez started for Triple-A Scranton last Sunday and was lined up to give the Yankees 70-something pitches Friday, if necessary. It wasn’t, thankfully, but he did mop up the ninth inning that night. He was dominant too. Granted, he faced bench guys because San Diego pulled their starters in the blowout, but Gómez went 1-2-3 with three strikeouts. The Padres missed with all four of their swings (video). 

Scranton has been hit hard by injuries the last week or so (more on that in a bit), so Gómez will go back down and remain stretched out as rotation depth. I really do like the kid’s arm though. Stuff has never been an issue with him. He’s just never stayed healthy. A full-time big league role awaits him – maybe not this year, but next year for sure since this is Gómez’s final option year – and he has a chance to be a good one. I’m a fan.

As for Marinaccio, the Yankees could’ve called him up rather than Gómez, though circumstances worked against him. For starters, Marinaccio threw 1.2 innings Thursday, so he wasn’t going to be available for a day or two anyway. It's only going to be a short-term promotion until Hamilton returns and what’s the point of calling up a pitcher who isn’t available to pitch? The timing just didn’t work out for Marinaccio.

Also, Marinaccio has already been optioned once this year and players only get five options per year (the option out of Spring Training doesn’t count toward the limit). Burning Marinaccio’s second option for one weekend isn’t the best roster management. The Yankees could have called Marinaccio up and kept him around, but obviously they aren’t ready to do that. We’ll see him again soon enough. Just not this past weekend.

(Tonkin must be hitting the voodoo dolls hard, eh? Whenever it’s looked like he was on the verge of being DFAed, a reliever went on the injured list and he stuck around. First it was Hamilton with COVID, then it was Burdi with the hip. Tonkin is pulling a Stairs Cabral (iykyk)).

Miscellany

Volpe’s hitting streak is up to 19 games and his on-base streak is up to 23 games. It’s the longest hitting streak by a Yankee since Derek Jeter had a 19-gamer in Sept. 2012. With a hit Tuesday, Volpe will be the first Yankee with a 20-game hitting streak since Robbie Canó had a 23-gamer from June 24th to July 20th in 2012. Four more games and Volpe will have the longest hitting streak by a Yankee age 23 or younger, beating out Joe DiMaggio’s 22-gamer in 1937 … YES had an excellent shot of Rizzo moving up in the batter’s box before poking a Dylan Cease breaking ball through the right side to drive in a run Saturday night. He took a step forward so he could get to the breaking ball before it fully broke below the zone:

In this era of homogeneous approaches (i.e. treat every pitch the same regardless of count), Rizzo is one of the few hitters who chokes up, moves up in the box, etc. And I don’t just mean on the Yankees. I mean league-wide. Not many hitters do that. Nice little piece of hitting there … The Yankees are gonna have to fix their middle relief at the trade deadline. Caleb Ferguson and Victor González are a big fat nope from the left side, and they need a righty who can throw fastballs by hitters rather than rely on weak contact or fooling guys with changeups. Ferguson, González, and Dennis Santana threw 45 pitches Sunday and got three swings and misses. Not enough bat-missers in the bullpen. It has been true all year.

Injury updates

Gerrit Cole’s second live batting practice session went well Saturday. He threw two 15-pitch innings at the minor league complex in Tampa (his son was the bat boy). “We hit all our goals. We did exactly what we wanted to do today. Threw a lot of strikes, so pretty good,” Cole told Mark Didtler. Cole will throw one more live BP and could start a minor league rehab assignment after that, though nothing is set in stone … Like Cole, JT Brubaker faced hitters Saturday and threw two innings of live BP, per Didtler. He’s coming back from Tommy John surgery. Brubaker is on track for a return sometime in July, maybe August … And finally, Jasson Domínguez hit his first homer the other day (video) and he is 11-for-35 (.314) through nine rehab games. He is still DHing, which is the plan. No word when he’ll return to the outfield. The important thing is El Marciano is making progress.

Up next

For whatever reason the Yankees are off on Memorial Day. They’ll begin a three-game series in Anaheim on Tuesday night. They’re 2-8 in their last 10 games at Angel Stadium after winning 10 of 13 from 2015-19. Thankfully what the 2021-23 Yankees did has no bearing on what the 2024 Yankees will do. Here are the pitching matchups:

• Tuesday at Angels: LHP Nestor Cortes vs. RHP Griffin Canning (9:30pm ET on YES)

• Wednesday at Angels: RHP Luis Gil vs. LHP Tyler Anderson (9:30pm ET on Amazon)

• Thursday at Angels: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. LHP Patrick Sandoval (9:30pm ET on YES)

The Angels are very bad. They started 4-2 and are 16-31 since (they're 6-19 at home overall), and the lineup is a mishmash of rushed prospects (Nolan Schanuel, Kyren Paris*), Quad-A guys (Willie Calhoun, Cole Tucker), and hangers-on (Kevin Pillar). Sam Blum (subs. req’d) talked to a bunch of Angels veterans recently and they all said something like “I thought my career was over” and “I had started thinking about coaching.” The roster is scrap heap city.

* The Angels called Paris up straight from Double-A a few weeks ago. Do you know what he was hitting in Double-A at the time of the promotion? .091/.198/.130 with a 39.1 K% in 23 games. Good grief Angels.

A little birdie told me the Angels are already discussing their relievers in trades, and they’re at least willing to listen to offers for José Soriano, a reliever-turned-starter with A+ stuff who’s having a nice year. I’m not sure the Angels have much to offer the Yankees. We can put our scout hats on and pay extra attention these next three games. The Angels are bad. Please treat them accordingly, Yankees.

2. 2024 draft prospect: Mississippi State RHP/LHP Jurrangelo Cijntje. The 2024 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 26 pick. Here are the draft prospects I’ve already profiled. Some are players the Yankees are reported to have interest in, some are players who fit the team’s M.O., and some are players I like for whatever reason. We’re covering a little of everything.

There have been a handful of switch-pitchers in the college ranks over the years, most notably old pal Pat Venditte, and Cijntje (pronounced SAIN-ja) is easily the best of the bunch. He’s a natural lefty who learned to throw righty as a kid because his father, a catcher, played professionally in the Netherlands, and he wanted to throw like him and use his mitt. The Brewers took Cijntje in the 18th round out of high school in 2022, but he didn’t sign.

"I have talked to (Venditte) several times. The last time was just two weeks ago," Cijntje told Ryan McGee last month. "He just told me, 'Remember, you've just gotta keep doing your thing.' But he's also really nice, like, ‘I can't say much to you because you throw it way harder than me.’”

Cijntje, 21 later this week, had a rough freshman season in 2023 (48 runs in 50 innings), but he’s taken a step forward this year and has a 3.55 ERA with a 30.9 K% and an 8.3 BB% in 83.2 innings. His numbers against righties (.175 AVG and 27.9 K-BB%) are much better than his numbers against lefties (.256 AVG and 12.3 K-BB%). Here’s where the latest draft rankings have him: 

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 125

• ESPN (subs. req’d): No. 36

• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 15

• MLB Pipeline: No. 41

Wide range on those rankings, though Cijntje has been excellent the last few weeks and will rank much higher when Baseball America releases their next update. Cijntje does not always pitch right-on-right and left-on-right. This year he’s thrown righty to about 75% of the batters he’s faced, with matchups and feel determining when he pitches lefty. Here’s video and here’s a chunk of MLB Pipeline’s free scouting report:

Evaluators say Cijntje has better stuff and projects as a Marcus Stroman-esque starter as a righty vs. profiling more as a reliever as a lefty. From the right side, he operates with a 94-96 mph fastball that tops out at 98 with carry up in the zone, and he backs it up with a mid-80s slider that reaches 91 with good depth and a slightly harder changeup with fade. As a southpaw, he works from a low slot with a sweepier low-80s breaking ball and a low-90s heater that doesn't miss many bats.

Cijntje is pitching right-handed against lefty hitters more often in 2024, and many scouts would like to see him do so full time. While his 5-foot-11 build creates questions about his long-term durability as a starter, he's strong and athletic. He has significantly improved his strike-throwing as a sophomore and could develop average control as he gains more experience.

Cijntje is listed at 5-foot-11 and 200 lbs. and every sub-6-foot righty with an ounce of ability gets comped to Stroman. Stroman and Cijntje aren’t all that similar though. Stroman’s been a sinker guy with a wide array of secondaries dating back to his time at Duke. Cijntje is more of a traditional fastball/slider guy as a righty. It’s a lazy comp based on height more than skill set.

The Yankees don’t draft pitchers in the first round nowadays and the pitchers they do draft in the early rounds have uncommon traits, like Brendan Beck’s elite command and Drew Thorpe’s best-in-class changeup. It doesn’t get more uncommon than switch-pitching, right? Cijntje is better as a righty but he is a legit weapon as a lefty. There will be ways to leverage that matchup ability.

Throwing with both arms means double the risk – imagine losing Cijntje’s great right arm because he tears the UCL in his left arm? – but also increased reward. And if switch-pitching doesn’t work, even on a limited basis, he still has enough to be effective as a full-time righty. Cjintje’s still very young and switch-pitching means he isn't as refined or experienced as the typical college righty. There’s growth potential.

Cijntje is a draft-eligible sophomore and that gives him added leverage. If you don’t pay up, he can return to school and re-enter the draft next year. The Yankees have an $8.13M bonus pool and slot for the No. 26 pick is over $3.3M. I don’t think money will be an issue. The question is how do the Yankees view Cijntje? As a legit switch-pitcher? Or a guy who should pitch right-handed full-time? Maybe we’ll find out.

3. Rapid fire thoughts. Rough few days for Triple-A Scranton. They lost Clayton Beeter to a shoulder issue last week, then Caleb Durbin and Cody Poteet landed on the injured list over the weekend. Durbin took a pitch to the hand (video) and Conor Foley says he was wearing a brace the next day. With Durbin hurt and Kevin Smith in the big leagues, outfielder Brandon Lockridge started at second base Sunday. It was his first time playing the keystone since his sophomore year of college in 2017. I’m not sure what’s up with Poteet, but he’s a pitcher. It could be anything. Yoendrys Gómez in the big leagues and Beeter and Poteet on the injured list means Scranton’s rotation is currently Edgar Barclay, Ben Shields, Baron Stuart, Tanner Tully, and Will Warren. Stuart and Shields originally signed as undrafted free agents and the Yankees promoted them from High-A Hudson Valley simply because the RailRiders needed bodies (Stuart threw a seven-inning complete game in his Triple-A debut, but Shields didn’t get out of the second inning). The Yankees officially got Matt Sauer back from the Royals as a Rule 5 Draft pick on Sunday and they sent him to Scranton, which helps some. But yeah, the RailRiders are going through it right now and the overall pitching depth has taken a hit with Beeter and Poteet going down.

(Send your requests for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)