MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees could use some offense right now, and Jake Bauers has produced plenty of it at Triple-A.
The lefty swinger has been raking for the RailRiders, tallying four doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 20 RBI and a .333/.481/.883 slash line over his first 19 games. With the Yankees struggling to score, Aaron Boone has noticed Bauer’s early-season surge.
“He’s definitely caught our eye,” the manager said Wednesday morning. “Certainly got a lot of us paying attention to that. We’ll see what happens.”
Bauers has 328 games of big league experience with Tampa Bay, Cleveland and Seattle. He totaled 23 home runs over 213 games from 2018-2019, but he hasn’t played in the majors since 2021.
The 27-year-old played for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season and hit well this past spring. Bauers has split his time fairly evenly between first base, designated hitter and the corner outfield spots this year.
Bauers is not on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, but Boone noted that the Yankees “need to get more” out of left field.
“There is that opportunity that exists right now,” Boone continued. “Who wants to grab it?”
Andres Chaparro also came up in Boone’s pregame scrum. The 23-year-old corner infielder crushed eight homers in his first 20 games at Triple-A.
“He can really hit,” Boone said, noting that Chaparro rebounded from a slow start to the season. “He’s been banging, and we know that’s who he is, so it’s good to see that.”
KAHNLE’S EXCITED
Tommy Kahnle (bicep tendonitis) returned to the mound Wednesday morning for a 15-pitch bullpen at Target Field.
“He was very encouraged. Tommy’s usually excited, but Tommy was excited,” Boone said of the eccentric reliever. “He’s been trending well for the last three, four weeks, and this is that next step.”
Kahnle, who couldn’t remember when his last bullpen was after being sidelined in spring training, joked about not being used to a slope.
“My first throw off the mound, I wasn’t used to the downhill,” the righty said with a laugh.
The plan is for Kahnle to throw another pen on Sunday. Boone added that he hopes to have the pitcher back by the end of May.
TEXAS TURF
Aaron Judge has played in all of the Yankees’ games so far, so Boone has been asked about finding an off day for the slugger amid the team’s offensive woes. Could the Yankees’ four-game series in Texas provide some R&R for the reigning MVP?
“We’ll see,” Boone said.
The skipper added that, at the very least, Judge will DH once or twice to minimize the time he spends on the turf at Globe Life Field.
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