KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This might actually happen.
If no Yankees position player suffers an injury in Texas this week, baseball’s best squad would become the first team in major league history (confirmed via weeks of imaginary research) to actually face the conundrum of employing too many good players. That’s the conundrum we discuss about twice a week, industry-wide, that never actually comes to fruition because, well … someone always gets hurt.
And if it happens, then Tyler Austin will likely suffer the milestone of being the first player victimized by such a circumstance.
Consider Sunday, then, a burgeoning of the legend.
The Yankees’ fill-in first baseman slammed two homers at spacious Kauffman Stadium and drove home four runs to lead a power-charged, 10-1 rout of the terrible Royals. With a 30-13 record, technical occupancy of the American League East penthouse, a 21-4 record in their last 25 games, and eight straight series wins, their best such run since the record-setting 1998 season, the Yankees are cruising on the remarkable depth of their roster.
That depth can be further enhanced if Greg Bird gets through a few more minor league games to rehabilitate the right-ankle injury that has sidelined him all season and gets activated Friday, when the Yankees return home to play the Angels. With Clint Frazier optioned back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre late Sunday, presumably to make room for another pitcher, Austin becomes the most obvious guy to make room for Bird.
“I haven’t thought about it at all, to be honest with you,” said Austin, who has eight homers in 92 at-bats, the most of any AL rookie, to accompany his solid .261/.324/.587 slash line. “I’m trying to take it day by day and, when I’m in there, to do my best to help this team win.”
“I don’t even think about that,” Aaron Boone echoed. “Tyler Austin’s an important part of what we’re doing right now. Obviously another huge day for him today to get us going, really, with a couple of longballs. He’s been great. He’s done a great job all year. He’s been a part of us winning games. And hopefully that continues.”
It’s hard to envision how it continues beyond a Bird activation if good health reigns. The Yankees’ other reserves — Austin Romine, Ronald Torreyes and Neil Walker — fit the club’s jigsaw puzzle better than Austin.
The Yankees faced a dilemma of sorts earlier this month when they optioned Brandon Drury to Triple-A and kept rookie Miguel Andujar as the starting third baseman. That differed, though, because Drury is working to manage his migraines and blurred vision that initially landed him on the disabled list, whereas Austin looks just fine; his 23 RBIs also pace AL rookies.
On Sunday, he opened the scoring in the fourth inning when he connected on a first-pitch, two-seam fastball from Royals starter Eric Skoglund and pummeled it to a stairway well above the visiting bullpen in left field. The Statcast folks estimated the two-run blast’s distance at 440 feet. While that proved to be all Yankees starting pitcher Sonny Gray needed, Austin drilled a two-run shot to center field, estimated at 405 feet, one inning later, boosting the Yankees’ lead to 5-0.
By the contest’s end, Austin had six hits and three homers in his last three games, a nice uptick from the 0-for-20 funk he registered upon returning from his four-game suspension for his role in the April 11 brawl with the Red Sox.
“Just getting back into my approach. That was the big thing,” Austin said. “Not trying to do too much. Especially when I came back, trying to make up for lost time. That’s never a good thing.”
While going back to the minors, where he had been optioned in spring training prior to Bird’s injury, wouldn’t be a good thing for Austin, he’d head to Scranton knowing he had proved his value to the Yankees. And that he’s an injury away from being welcomed back.
