TORONTO — Trent Grisham racked up 500-plus plate appearances in each of the last three seasons before becoming a Yankee.
On Monday, despite starting for the second time in three days, he was in the lineup for just the fourth time in the Yankees’ 17th game of the season, a 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays.
As the Yankees’ fourth outfielder, Grisham has had to adjust to a change of pace this season, though manager Aaron Boone has continued to say he expects the defensively gifted center fielder to play a big role over the course of the year.
“He has been a guy that’s played every day, but that’s obviously not the situation [here] and you gotta make the most of it,” Boone said before the game at Rogers Centre. “I think from an attitude standpoint and a work standpoint, it’s been excellent. Just because you haven’t done it before doesn’t mean you can’t thrive in that role either. That’s the expectation.
“He hasn’t had a lot of run yet, but there’s no reason to think he can’t be really valuable in a smaller role. But you know that could inevitably change at any moment.”
Grisham went 0-for-2 with a walk and was thrown out trying to steal second base with one out in the fifth inning and Anthony Volpe at the plate.
He is 0-for-10 with two walks and four strikeouts on the season.
Grisham was starting Monday because Boone wanted to get Aaron Judge a day at DH during the three-game series on the turf.
He picked Monday to do so, with the left-handed hitting Grisham getting a chance to face right-hander Chris Bassitt and Giancarlo Stanton moving to the bench.
“I didn’t want to have Judge on the carpet all three days, especially with a day game after a night game in there,” Boone said. “And it gets [Grisham] a second start in three days, so hopefully get him going a little bit.”
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Gerrit Cole threw from 60 feet Sunday before taking Monday off.
He is expected to throw again Tuesday.
“He’ll continue throwing this week and upping the — he’s upped the volume a little bit already, but I think he gets out to 75 [feet] and beyond moving forward this week,” Boone said.
Volpe singled in the third inning and stole his sixth base of the season. He has hit safely in 12 of his 16 games, batting .373 with a 1.006 OPS. … Ron Marinaccio, called up from Triple-A on Saturday, threw two efficient innings in relief of Luis Gil. “I like how he’s getting the fastball more consistently to where he wants to get it,” Boone said.
