Aaron Boone told reporters on Tuesday that he was considering leaving the struggling Aaron Hicks out of the lineup for both games of the Braves series, but after coming in to pinch hit on Tuesday night, Hicks is back in the lineup on Wednesday, batting seventh and playing center field.
Boone said the change of heart was after an encouraging last 24 hours from Hicks, who has an OPS of just .490 so far this season.
“Just felt good about the day he had yesterday, and the conversations I had with Marcus talking with him postgame,” Boone said. “I just felt like I wanted to get him back in there today.”
Hicks pinch hit for Mike Tauchman in the bottom of the eighth with the score tied at one on Tuesday, and promptly worked a four-pitch walk before scoring what proved to be the winning run in a much-needed 3-1 victory for the Yanks. Hicks still has a ways to go in climbing out of a brutal slump that includes 14 strikeouts compared to five walks (he walked 41 times last year and struck out just 38 times), but Boone saw enough to pencil him back into the lineup.
“I felt like Aaron is in a good mental space, had a good day yesterday,” Boone said. “Obviously had a really important quality at-bat for us in the inning in which we grabbed the lead, so I thought it just made sense today.”
Gleyber Torres is also in the lineup batting fifth, representing another Bomber bat in desperate need of a wake-up. Torres is batting .182 with a .515 OPS so far this season, and has yet to break into the home run column.
“I feel like there’s been days where I feel like he’s really close and had some quality at-bats where he’s worked a walk or got off some good things where he hasn’t quite gotten it in play with authority,” Boone said. “Which has been a little bit of a theme for us as a group when we haven’t gotten our pitch.”
Torres went 0-for-4 on Tuesday, and is hitless in his last 12 plate appearances.
“I thought he left the zone a little bit and was reaching for some balls,” Boone said. “I thought [Charlie] Morton, obviously he’s a great pitcher, but he was really on his game last night…but I felt like Gleyber got a little outside of himself last night, teaching for some balls a little bit.”
Hicks and Torres will both have to get going if the Yankees want to climb out of their worst offensive start to a season in Boone’s tenure, but he remains confident that his hitters, including Torres, have the track record to prove that this collective slump is temporary.
“I’m not worried about him long-term offensively,” Boone said. “I feel like there have been more than a few moments where I see Gleyber ready to break out.”
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