ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees were technically off Sunday, but the players who wanted to get their work in ahead of Game 2 of the ALDS went to their spring training home instead of the field where they will play Monday night.
Tropicana Field certainly plays differently from just about anywhere else, but the Yankees felt they would get better use out of their facility at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, so they had their pitchers throw there in addition to some position players working out.
“You’ve got a full facility, our training stuff, modalities, things like that, plenty of fields to get whatever space you need,” manager Aaron Boone said on a video call Sunday. “We’ve got Trajekt for guys who want to get on that. And staying in Tampa, it’s a quick, easier back and forth.”
The Trajekt — a specialized pitching machine that spits out exact pitches of big leaguers down to the spin, shape and velocity, with a video of their delivery on the front — is not available to visiting teams in MLB stadiums.
But playing here, the Yankees got the perk of having the Trajekt at their disposal, hoping it will serve them better in facing Rays right-hander Freddy Peralta in Game 2 on Monday than it did against Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 on Saturday.
Aaron Judge was part of the group working out at Steinbrenner Field on Sunday, continuing his buildup after a right calf strain in hopes of making the ALCS roster if the Yankees qualify.
“He was off from running [Saturday], so I know he’s running again today,” Boone said. “I think we’ll get some live [batting practice] in. So just another workday, trying to stack another good day and, obviously, continue to heal up.”
The Yankees were still debating the pitching order for Max Fried and Carlos Rodón in Games 3 and 4. Rodón threw a 60-pitch, four-inning live batting practice Thursday at Yankee Stadium, with a decision to come on whether to have him throw a between-starts bullpen session or make him available out of the bullpen for Games 2 or 3.
“We’re kind of working through that and won’t necessarily reveal how we go there the rest of the way, too,” Boone said.
Boone was not buying into the idea that he should have gotten Giancarlo Stanton an at-bat once the two wild-card games got out of hand, so that when he pinch-hit in the ninth inning of Saturday’s Game 1 it would not have been his first at-bat in five-plus months.
“It’s not summer ball,” Boone said. “Big G is ready to go. … There’s no courtesy at-bats this time of year.”
