As Josh Donaldson declined to talk with reporters on Sunday morning, he made his manner towards Aaron Boone’s workplace.
The struggling third baseman — out of the lineup for the third consecutive day — and supervisor proceeded to have a dialog that made Boone half an hour late for his every day pregame press convention. When Boone lastly spoke, he had no strikes to announce regardless of hypothesis over Donaldson’s future with the Yankees.
“JD and I were talking,” Boone defined. “It simply spilled into a protracted dialog. That’s all.
“He and I have had a lot of conversations yesterday and today. We’re on the same page. I’m not going to get into it that much but it’s just more him and I talking. I’m sorry it spilled over. You have important conversations with guys all of the time.”
Donaldson, a former MVP, entered Sunday’s sequence finale in opposition to the Rangers slashing .125/.197/.406 with six dwelling runs and eight RBI over 21 video games. He missed time with a hamstring damage earlier this season.
Donaldson was anticipated to talk after Sunday’s recreation.
While Boone didn’t need to dive into specifics of his conversations with Donaldson, the skipper continued to specific religion within the flailing third baseman, who heard more and more loud boos in opposition to Seattle when within the lineup earlier this homestand.
“I think he should be an everyday player,” Boone insisted. “This is a little reset that I decided, a moment in time, that I felt like a couple days were worth it.”
While Boone added that he “wrestled” with the choice to take a seat Donaldson once more on Sunday, the reboot comes at an attention-grabbing time. General supervisor Brian Cashman mentioned that he needed to get Donaldson some “runway” when the homestand started on June 20.
“Well, I’d like to get him some really consistent at-bats before we try to assess what’s going on,” Cashman mentioned when requested why he believes Donaldson can nonetheless present an influence bat. “Obviously, last year, he had a subpar offensive season, but prior to that, he’s always been an above average offensive player.”
The actuality is that Donaldson has hit properly under his requirements for the reason that Yankees acquired him in March 2022. The 37-year-old has a .210/.295/.378 slash line and below-average 91 OPS+ since donning pinstripes, and he’s added simply 21 homers and 70 RBI over 153 video games.
Letting Donaldson go can be expensive, as he’s owed $27 million (a few of which has already been paid this season). But the Yankees lately designated Aaron Hicks for task regardless of an identical value, they usually’ve parted with different sunk prices in current reminiscence, akin to Jacoby Ellsbury and Alex Rodriguez.
Donaldson lately advised The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty that he hasn’t decided about enjoying in 2024.
However, Boone believes Donaldson’s bat can nonetheless assist a Yankees offense that has usually seemed anemic with Aaron Judge on the injured record.
“I know the batting average since he’s come back has not been great,” Boone mentioned. “But scratch the surface, the underlying [metrics], he’s hitting the ball hard. I feel like there’s a ton in there for him offensively. Obviously, he’s tremendous defensively at third. I don’t think anyone would argue with that. I just want to get him going because I know he can be a key figure for us, and just trying to do our part in unlocking that the best we can.”
Boone additionally mentioned {that a} “small sample” is partly guilty for Donaldson’s numbers, and that “he’s having better at-bats than at different points where he was scuffling a little bit last year.”
Donaldson hit .222/.308/.374 with 15 dingers, 62 RBI and a 95 OPS+ in 2022.
“He’s getting his swing off a lot,” Boone continued. “The impact’s there. He’s hit a lot of hard balls right at people, and when you’re going through it and not getting a lot of hits, it adds up.”
Boone has regularly defended Donaldson in emphatic phrases, together with in spring coaching earlier this 12 months. Boone, when explaining why he thought Donaldson may rebound from his 2021 season this 12 months, mentioned, “We’re talking about a great player.”
“This has been a star player, and consistently for a long time,” Boone mentioned in camp. “He’s not far faraway from 2021, the place he was nonetheless a wrecking ball.
“The things he did this winter to get himself ready to go, I think you’re crazy to think that a bounce back is not in there offensively. This guy still has bat speed, and is super talented. He’s in a much better place than he was a year ago right now.”
But what’s Donaldson doing now to repair his swing?
The Yankees burdened that DJ LeMahieu’s load was the trigger for his struggles when he obtained an identical benching earlier this week. However, Boone didn’t establish any particulars when requested what Donaldson has been engaged on recently.
Boone added that Donaldson is a “mentally tough guy” when requested if these off days had been meant to function a bodily or psychological reset.
When requested if Donaldson is sad about this day without work, Boone reasoned that no “gamer” can be. And if the veteran was understanding of what Boone mentioned was the supervisor’s determination?
“He and I are in a really good spot,” Boone mentioned. “He’s gonna play a lot. I know there’s a lot in there.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com