SAN FRANCISCO — The Yankees do, in fact, still plan to give Ben Rice chances to face lefty starters this season.
Just not the first one.
And while that made for some consternation from some corners of the fanbase when the club’s second lineup of the season was unveiled on Friday, there was sound reasoning behind Paul Goldschmidt starting over Rice against Giants lefty Robbie Ray at Oracle Park.
Ray is the only lefty the Yankees are scheduled to face over their first nine games of the season, so Aaron Boone made a full line change and used all of his right-handed bench bats – Goldschmidt for Rice, Amed Rosario for Ryan McMahon and Randal Grichuk for Trent Grisham – to avoid going nearly two weeks without them playing to start the season.
“Ben’s gonna play against some lefties, Grish too,” Boone said Friday morning. “A lot of it has to do with, I think the first three series/nine games, this is probably the only lefty we’re going to see. Certainly want to get those guys in and obviously they bring a lot to the table against left-handed pitching. So, excited to see them get their feet wet today and get going.”
The Yankees believe that Rice has the ability to hold his own (and more) against lefties, after hitting .208 with a .752 OPS against them last season.
But with Goldschmidt – the veteran who hit .336 with a .981 OPS against lefties last season – on the bench, they will pick and choose their spots to have Rice hit left-on-left.
“Are we full roster [having everyone available]?” Boone said. “What’s the week look like? Are we seeing a bunch of lefties that week? Have we not seen one in 10 days? Then it’s an ideal day to get Goldy in there. Just the flow of the season and where we’re at goes into it.”
The Yankees wanted to get less lefty-heavy in their lineup this offseason, but instead they opted to bolster their bench with three righty bats – re-signing Goldschmidt and Rosario and adding Grichuk, who won a spot in camp after being brought in on a minor league deal.
All three have been lefty killers over the course of their careers, and more importantly, have shown they can produce even when they do not play every day.
That will come into play especially against some tough lefties in the division like Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and Orioles ace Trevor Rogers.
“Especially we saw last year, it seemed like [teams] would line up lefties for us when they could,” Boone said. “So having that balance with as left-handed as we are, and then getting the right people into that. Bringing in Rosie, who’s so good against lefties. Adding a Grichuk, who we think can be really tough against them. Just trying to complete your team on the margins where you can.”
