TAMPA — If the Yankees need Starlin Castro to fill in at shortstop for however long Didi Gregorius is sidelined by his right shoulder injury, the second baseman is confident he can handle the assignment.
“I can do that for sure. That’s my natural position and I think I can do that,’’ Castro said Monday after getting at-bats in a Single-A game against the Blue Jays at the Yankees’ minor league complex. “If they ask me, I am going to say yes. Hopefully [Gregorius] is all right.’’
Gregorius, who was with Team Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, will be examined in Tampa on Tuesday after being diagnosed with a hematoma of the subscapularis muscle.
Whether Gregorius misses a week or months of the regular season, Castro easily has the most experience at short of anybody in the Yankees system. Of Castro’s 1,042 big league games, 844 are as a shortstop. After being acquired from the Cubs before last season, Castro played 146 games at second for the Yankees. He played 107 games at short in 2015 for the Cubs and 133 games the previous season at the position.
The Yankees have already ruled out stud prospect Gleyber Torres as a possible replacement for Gregorius. The 20-year-old shortstop came to the Yankees in the Aroldis Chapman deal last year and hasn’t played above Single-A.
Among the other in-house candidates are Pete Kozma, Ruben Tejada, Tyler Wade, Donovan Solano, Jorge Mateo and Ronald Torreyes. Kozma, Tejada, Wade and Solano aren’t on the 40-man roster. Mateo is, but he was sent out to the minor league camp last week. Torreyes is on the roster, but the Yankees view him as a valuable utility infielder capable of playing second, third and short.
“That’s tough news, you never want to see a guy like that go down,” Wade said. “I’m just going to go out there and play the game of baseball, it’s really not my decision. I’m working hard with the coaches, I’m picking the brains of a lot of guys. I’m just going to go about my business. I get my ground balls at short every day. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and let them make the decision.’’
“We have a lot of guys who can play good out there,’’ Castro said.
If the Yankees take Castro up on his offer, Torreyes and Rob Refsnyder would be candidates to fill in at second.
None, including Castro, can play short as well as Gregorius. After shaking off a rough two-month start as Derek Jeter’s replacement in 2015, Gregorius has been an above-average defender and batted .276 with 20 homers and 70 RBIs last season.
Tejada, 27, has played 421 games at short, but the former Met appeared in just six last year in the big leagues. Kozma, 28, has played 173 games at short, but spent the entire 2016 season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he played 84 games at the position. Wade, 22, has never played above Double-A. He played 122 of his 133 games last year for Trenton at short. Solano, 29, has a little more bat than Tejada and Kozma, but he played 65 games at second, 55 at third and seven at short for SWB a year ago.
Quietly, Matt Holliday, 37, continues to have an explosive spring, blasting his third home run, a booming shot onto the left-field berm, in the Yankees’ 9-3 win over the Nationals on Monday. He is batting .306. “He is a really good addition,’’ Joe Girardi said.
Bryce Harper was making diving catches in right field for the Nationals, making bullet throws home, off-line, and even picked up a couple of hits as he showed off his quality tools to the Yankees. You might have heard he is a free agent after the 2018 season.
Michael Pineda had a 33-pitch second inning and was removed after only 1 ²/₃ innings and 46 pitches. He was supposed to hit 80 pitches. He could not put hitters away.
“They fouled some pitches,’’ Pineda said.
The righty did not do any extra throwing in the bullpen, which sometimes is the case in spring training when pitchers don’t reach their pitch limit.
After their second straight sellout at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, the Yankees are back home in Tampa on Tuesday, awaiting word on Gregorius’ injury. Bryan Mitchell gets the start against Boston and Chris Sale in a night game at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Additional reporting by Kevin Kernan