The New York Yankees have a huge problem — but fortunately it’s a good one.
The Pinstripes have so much offensive production that, with Giancarlo Stanton set to return soon as designated hitter, they don’t have enough spots in the infield to get every slugger in the lineup. Yankees manager Aaron Boone addressed the problem following the Yankees’ win against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday.
“It’ll be tough decisions every day trying to keep guys that are deserving of playing time playing regularly,” Boone said. “But there’s going to be some guys out of the lineup on a given day that should be in there or deserve to be in there…”
Boone then pointed to an unexpected change to further boost the lineup: putting in current designated hitter Ben Rice at catcher.
“We’ll just do the best we can to make sure we keep everyone sharp and keep everyone contributing,” he said. “It could be to get Ben Rice behind the plate here and there.”
Of course, this idea might put Austin Wells on the bench, and Yankees coaches have been nothing but complimentary of the catcher’s hitting and receiving this season. Other previous suggestions to fix this issue include moving Paul Goldschmidt to second, Jazz Chisholm to first and Rice to third, sending DJ LeMahieu to the bench. Those ideas may not be for the best, especially seeing as Goldschmidt has never really played anything other than first base in his long MLB career.
Rice has experience catching in college, where he played for Dartmouth, as well as in the Yankees’ farm system. He also completed some workouts with Pinstripes catchers during spring training this season, indicating he could be ready for the role.
It’s not the first time a team has tried unorthodox methods at various positions. Position players are sometimes called in to the mound to provide relief to pitchers in games that are considered too far gone to win, a strategy the Yankees have done in the past.
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