Saturday’s pre-game news from Baltimore on Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks was encouraging. His left wrist, which has a sheath tendon tear, was feeling better with two days of anti-inflammatory medicine. This development perhaps was an indication that Hicks might avoid surgery, which may be season ending, or perhaps not even need to go on the IL.
All of that optimism disappeared when Hicks attempted to get a better idea of what kind of progress he was making by taking some swings in a batting cage.
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It didn’t go well for the switch-hitter.
“When he tried to swing from both sides of the plate, it wasn’t what he was looking for or what we were looking for,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees’ 8-2 win at Oriole Park.
This development led to the obvious:
Hicks is headed to the injured list on Sunday and the Yankees will be summoning in an outfielder.
The best bet is the Yankees call up the one minor-league outfielder who is on their 40-man roster, five-tool center fielder prospect Estevan Florial. The lefty-hitting, righty-throwing Dominican was promoted from Double-A to Triple-A on Friday and debuted for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday by going 1-for-4 with a triple and a walk in a 5-4 win over Lehigh Valley.
Florial, 23, began the season by hitting .229 with four homers in nine games for Double-A Somerset. He has one game of MLB experience, which came Aug. 28 when he was the Yankees’ 27th man for Subway Series doubleheader against the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Florial started Game 1 and was 1-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre also has speedy Greg Allen, a natural center fielder who hit .239 with eight homers and 30 steals in 221 big-league games with Cleveland (2018-20) and San Diego (2020), but he’s not healthy. Allen left Friday’s Triple-A game in the middle of an at-bat due to discomfort in his side and on Saturday did not play or take part in pre-game activities.
“You always want to support the guys that are going through (injuries) because I know you know how frustrating and difficult it is for Aaron to not be able to go out and post and play the way he’s capable of … but you also realize that it’s an opportunity for somebody else to have a role and step up and add production to this lineup,” Boone said.
Fourth outfielder Brett Gardner has been playing center the last two days for Hicks, but he’s batting just .173 after a 1-for-5 night on Saturday. Left fielder Clint Frazier is having an even rougher go of it with a .141 average after his 0-for-3 evening.
As for Hicks, he might not decide on whether to opt for surgery until he gets through his week of anti-inflammatories and then possibly gets second and third opinions from non-Yankees doctors.
“We’ll see the course of action now over the next couple of days,” Boone said. “Surgery still is certainly on the table. but that hasn’t been finalized yet. We’ll see. The first step is he is going to go on the IL.”
If Hicks elects to have surgery, his season may or may not be over.
“I don’t know,” Boone said. “That’s kind of getting ahead of ourselves. I’m not sure of the exact timeline if he did go that route.”
It’s been a rough last few seasons for Hicks since he signed a seven-year, $70-million contract extension in March 2019. He began that season on the injured list with a lower back strain, then returned to hit .235 with 12 homers in 59 games before suffering a right flexor strain in September that led to Tommy John surgery.
Hicks then went on to have a disappointing 2020 season — he batted .a career-worst .225 with six homers and 21 RBI in 54 games — and he got off to a terrible start this year with a .194 average, four homers and 14 RBI in 32 games.
And now he’s hurt again.
The Yankees are bummed. They remember how good Hicks was in 2018 when he hit .235 with a career-high 27 homers, 79 RBI, 90 walks and an .833 OPS.
“Anytime you lose one of your one of your key players, that’s a blow,” Boone said. “Obviously when Hicks is at his best … a switch hitter in our lineup balances us out a little bit. But you’re going to have some attrition along the way. You’re going have some guys go down and it creates an opportunity for somebody else to step up.”
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