With several roster spots and roles still to be decided and declared before the start of the season, the Yankees checked one box Tuesday: Bryan Mitchell has made the team.
Mitchell, a right-hander who turns 25 on April 19, likely will work out of the bullpen, manager Joe Girardi said after the Yankees edged Pittsburgh, 5-4, in a rain-shortened, split-squad game at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
He’ll accompany the team to Disney World on Wednesday and pitch out of the bullpen in the Yankees’ game against the Braves.
“He’s a guy that’s pitched extremely well,” Girardi said. “He’s going to be with us one way or another.”
When pressed on his “one way or another” remark, the Yankees manager said, “The competition [for the fifth starter’s job], we said, was between the three guys [Mitchell, Ivan Nova and CC Sabathia]. It’s kind of between the two guys [Nova and Sabathia]. He’s pitched well to maybe get that shot, too. But likelihood, he’ll be out of the bullpen.”
Mitchell has tallied a 0.61 ERA in five Grapefruit League games (three starts and two relief appearances) totaling 14 ²/₃ innings, striking out 11 and walking one. He compiled a 6.37 ERA in 20 games, two of them starts, with the Yankees last year, though he owned a 3.86 ERA in 10 outings before getting drilled in the face by a comebacker off the bat of Minnesota’s Eduardo Nunez. Mitchell put up a 12.46 ERA in 10 appearances after returning from his injury.
Girardi said he hoped to make all of his required decisions — including the fifth starter, the composition of the bullpen, the backup catcher and the backup infielder — by the time the team breaks camp on Thursday.
On Thursday, Michael Pineda will start at home against St. Louis and Chad Green on the road against the Tigers. Nathan Eovaldi will start Friday night against the Marlins at Marlins Park. Saturday afternoon’s starter in Miami probably will be Luis Severino, Girardi said.
None of the statistics from the Yankees- Phillies game at Bright House Field counted because it was called after four frames with the visitors leading 7-1.
However, it was hard to ignore Dustin Ackley’s homer off lefty Brett Oberholtzer to right center in the first inning that landed on the grassy knoll well beyond the fence.
“He hit a high changeup for a home run. He has swung the bat well all spring,” bench coach Rob Thomson said of the left-handed hitting backup infielder. “That’s what he does, he knows where the barrel of the bat is.”
After three years of attempting to get Ackley from the Mariners, the Yankees did at last year’s trading deadline. They believe his upper-cut swing is made for Yankee Stadium, but the second pick in the 2009 draft has been a liability defensively. He will play second and first base but can’t play short and third.
That leaves the Yankees looking for somebody who can. If not they intend to move Starlin Castro, who is still learning to play second, to short when Didi Gregorius needs a day off. Ronald Torreyes can play third and short and if the Yankees can’t find an upgrade he could make the team.
Outfielder Cesar Puello isn’t making the team, but he has played well enough to make the Yankees believe he could add organizational depth in the minors.
“He is a real tools guy who can do a lot of things,” Thomson said of the former Mets farmhand who turns 26 Friday. “He has power and we are trying to get him to use the whole field. It was a good pickup, a good sign and he has got some upside.”
Puello, who made two fielding errors in one inning playing right field against the Nationals on March 23, threw out Will Venable at the plate in the third inning Tuesday.
Signed by the Mets in 2008, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound right-handed hitter from the Dominican Republic spent eight years in their system. He appeared in one game for the GCL Mets last year due to a back issue. Puello is a career .282 hitter in the minors with an above-average arm.
Training Day
Car’ smash
Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer, his first of the spring, and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in a rain-shortened 5-4 Yankees win over the Pirates at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
For shame
The decision to start the Yankees-Phillies game at Bright House Field. With a forecast calling for heavy rain, the game started in a steady downpour and forced it to be called after four innings.
Caught my eye
Miguel Andujar’s name isn’t mentioned with Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird and Jorge Mateo when it comes to Yankees’ prospects, but he is well thought of inside the organization. The 21-year-old third baseman, who played at Single-A Tampa last year, slugged a two-run homer against the Phillies.
Wednesday’s schedule
The Yankees travel to Lake Buena Vista to face the Braves. Ivan Nova, who will likely open the season in the bullpen, is slated to start.