ARLINGTON, Texas — The decision to designate veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk for assignment Wednesday came just as the 34-year-old was starting to heat up, batting 6-for-16 after starting the year 0-for-15.
The Yankees had signed the right-handed hitter to a minor league deal in camp before he made the team to help them against lefties.
“Difficult decision, just because I feel like Randal’s come in here and fit in really well,” Aaron Boone said before the 3-0 loss to the Rangers. “I feel like, despite numbers-wise a slow start, he’s shown us the at-bats we’ve wanted to see from him when he’s got his opportunities against left-handed pitching.
“But just the fit right now, feel like with me not catching [Ben] Rice much, [Paul Goldschmidt] being backup first baseman, not having that position flexibility right now with the guy on the bench that Max [Schuemann] brings, think it just makes sense for our club right now to be a little bit better fit.
“But Randal, and I even told him [Tuesday] night, he can still do this. He can still play this game at a high level. It was hard though, because he fit in well with this group.”
Anthony Volpe played in a 10th rehab game Wednesday at Double-A Somerset, going 2-for-4 while playing a full nine innings at shortstop for the second straight day.
The Yankees have said they will reevaluate Volpe on Thursday, which is Day 17 of a maximum 20-day rehab clock, but Boone was cagey on whether the shortstop would be activated Friday.
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “We got this game and he’s playing in Somerset today. We’ll see.”
Gerrit Cole made his third rehab start Wednesday afternoon, building up to 60 pitches (45 strikes) across 5 ²/₃ innings with Double-A Somerset. He gave up three runs on three hits and no walks while striking out three. Cole has only walked one batter across 14 ¹/₃ innings on his rehab assignment so far.
“It was nice to get six ups, so it was a good day,” Cole told reporters in Somerset. “Lot of strikes, that’s good. Not a lot of large misses, and consistency out of all the offerings today, which was nice.”
The former AL Cy Young Award winner is expected to need at least a few more rehab starts before potentially being activated in mid-to-late May.
An umpire asked Elmer Rodríguez to change his glove after the second inning Wednesday, which the rookie right-hander did but was unsure why it was necessary. Making his MLB debut, Rodríguez was sporting a blue, red and white glove, as a tribute to his native Puerto Rico, but then used a black glove for the final two innings.
“Thankfully I had one here,” Rodríguez said. “He just told me I could change it for the next inning and that was it.”
