Yankees Spring Training Camp Notes 2/21

Baseball! Kind of.

We have a baseball game to talk about! Sort of. Even with the short offseason, I missed watching a little bit of Yankees baseball. That excitement will inevitably go away as we get further into Spring Training, but for now I’m pumped.

I’m going to cover Spring Training with some periodic notes about what news is coming out of camp. I’m going to do my very best to not get excited or worried about batting lines, ERAs, or whatever else we see. Spring Training stats aren’t worth much—just ask Anthony Volpe in 2023—even if sometimes it feels like they represent some kind of truth.

What am I watching for in the games then? First off, we can infer a lot about what the Yankees are planning from the decisions they make. Who starts the game? What is the batting order? What positions are they playing? There’s a few nuggets to over-analyze from Game 1 already.

Second, can we detect any significant mechanical changes, new pitches, or something else above and beyond the actual results?

Third, what is the general vibe?

Game 1 Notes

Some fun tea leaves here.

• Jasson Dominguez leads off. Jazz Chisholm bats 4th. Anthony Volpe bats 5th. Is Aaron Boone showing his hand here? Both Volpe and Chisholm were (not great) options to bat at the top of the order. I think that Dominguez is a solid bet to deserve to bat leadoff ahead of Judge, but he’s a young rookie. It would have been easy to default to, “speedy guy who isn’t a rookie” high in the lineup, but Boone went with Dominguez. Let’s hope he can step up.

• J.C. Escarra bats 6th, ahead of Pereira and Peraza. In a vacuum, Escarra should be lower in the pecking order than either. He’s never played in the majors, and the others both have arguably been better hitters at Triple-A. The move makes sense if Boone considers Escarra as the MLB backup catcher. Hopefully we won’t be seeing Alex Jackson this year.

• Jazz Chisholm made a fun backhand catch up the middle at second in the first inning. Looked great.

• Goldschmidt hit a long double and made a tough-ish play to get the lead runner at second. He looked like a classically trained first baseman, although maybe he makes it back for the double play ten years ago.

• It’s an interesting choice to bring Stroman out to start the first game for just one inning. Feels like a statement. For what it’s worth, I thought that he and especially Will Warren both looked solid.

• I’m not swing expert, but I think Everson Pereira is standing a little differently. He might be a little leaner too. He’s stuck at DH for a little longer while rehabbing from Tommy John. He worked a nice walk in his second at bat after going down 0-2. He’s worth keeping an eye on.

Injury News

• Chase Hampton had Tommy John surgery. He was injured for most of 2024, and now could miss all of 2025 and half of 2026. Just awful news for a promising pitcher.

• Clark Schmidt has some kind of minor back injury. No one seems too concerned.

• The Yankees are holding Austin Wells back for about a week and a half. I absolutely love the idea of shortening Spring Training for your starting catcher. Let the other guys catch a few innings in games. Something was physically wrong with Wells in September and October. Hopefully they feel comfortable resting him during the season.

• Boone on Stanton: “Unsure. We’ll see as the weeks unfold. We don’t know if this is a long term thing. When he returns… we’ll kind of just listen to the body. We don’t want to rush. If we can get it calmed down…” Doesn’t sound like his return is eminent. Stanton had a full offseason to rest and calm down his elbow.

Miscellaneous

• Aaron Boone is extended. I still think that the Yankees could do better, but the Yankees did make it to the World Series. Hard not to extend a guy after that.

• Carlos Carassco seems great! It would be fun to see him try and carve out a bullpen role.

• Automated Ball Strike challenges! Yes, please. The broadcast needs to be a little quicker on the replay graphic though.

• Beards! Good riddance to an antiquated policy. Austin Wells grows a nice one during the offseason. I’m not sure if Volpe has any facial hair. I’m not sure that I’m ready for a bearded Aaron Judge.

• The hype machine is winding up on George Lombard Jr. The offseason scouting reports were promising, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here people. We’re talking about a fringe top-100 prospect still.