Aaron Hicks wanted to be back in the Yankees’ lineup on Saturday, feeling like he was ready to go after missing two games with hamstring tightness – and while manager Aaron Boone agreed with the latter, he decided to give Hicks one more day off, sending run Aaron Judge out to center field once again.
“Just a decision there,” Boone said. “He’s ready to go and will probably be in there tomorrow.”
The unforgiving turf at Tropicana Field may have played a role, but likely so, too, did Hicks’ offensive splits. He’s struggled this year to a .209 average, but he has hit .265 against lefties versus just .185 versus righties – and with Saturday’s starter, Corey Kluber, the only righty the Yankees were set to face in this four-game set, so waiting a day might also help Hicks’ confidence in the box.
“Just continue to work on getting that quality contact going,” Boone said of Hicks. “He’s still doing a pretty good job of controlling the zone and was getting some traction for a few days, so we just have to keep working and get him to that point to where he’s swinging it where we know he’s capable of.”
Obviously, also not optimal to have Judge, one of the hottest hitters in the league this year, playing center field three straight games on the turf, but it’s likely that Judge will get a DH day on Sunday, perhaps with Matt Carpenter making his debut in the field to give someone in the infield a day off.
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