Yankees debut potential Opening Day lineup in walk-off win over Nationals – New York Daily News

With Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo making their spring debuts Wednesday, Aaron Boone put out a lineup against the Nationals that we may see on Opening Day on March 30 against the San Francisco Giants.

The Bombers lineup featured Aaron Hicks in left field batting seventh and Isiah Kiner-Falefa at shortstop batting ninth, along with the usual LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Rizzo, Stanton as the top four.

Jose Trevino — who has already been declared the No. 1 catcher — was not in the lineup as Kyle Higashioka manned behind the plate batting eighth. Higashioka could do so again on Opening Day as he was seen as Gerrit Cole’s personal catcher for the majority of last season.

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Josh Donaldson played third batting fifth and Harrison Bader was in the six hole and in center field.

In the end, Carlos Narvaez — a 23-year-old catcher who has been in the Yanks’ system since 2016 — ended Wednesday’s tilt at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa with a two-run walk-off homer for a 4-2 Grapefruit League win.

Boone was admittedly cautious with his injury-prone veterans (Stanton, Rizzo and LeMahieu) getting them off to a somewhat later start in spring training.

“There’s a slow play from my standpoint with a number of these guys,” the Yankees manager said on Monday. “Because we have a normal spring training again and the on-ramp is bigger.”

Stanton hit two balls on the screws — both registering over 102.7 mph off the bat — however neither found grass as he finished 0-2 in his spring debut.

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The 2017 NL MVP said that he expects to be playing the outfield within the next week during an interview with the YES Network. The 33-year-old played 38 games in the outfield (34 in right field and 4 in left) in 2022 and arguably the Yanks’ best offensive configuration features Stanton somewhere in the outfield. However, the club has been a bit gun-shy in doing so due to Stanton’s injury history — played 130 or more games in just two of his last five seasons.

LeMahieu went 1-2 as he roped a single that one-hopped off the left field wall in the bottom of the third. Rizzo also got on the board with a hit — which may have not been a hit last season with the shift that is now banned — to finish 1-2 on the afternoon.

Three players competing in position battles this spring appeared in Wednesday’s game. Anthony Volpe and Kiner-Falefa at shortstop and Hicks in left field.

Hicks punched one through the right side in the bottom of the fourth serving as a reminder that the shift is no longer there to steal away hits. If Wednesday’s lineup is any indication, the Bombers may be banking on the fact that the 33-year-old’s production will see a significant upgrade to last season — .642 OPS in 130 games — with the right side open.

In the shortstop competition, Kiner-Falefa went 0-2 on the afternoon and is now 1-6 this spring. Volpe got into the game in the fifth inning and made a series of smooth defensive plays at shortstop but went 0-2 at the plate.

In the early going of spring training, nobody — including Oswald Peraza — seems to be the runaway favorite to be the Yankees’ Opening Day shortstop.

Domingo German began his quest to become the fifth starter for the Yankees after Frankie Montas went down with a shoulder injury on Feb. 21. The 30-year-old pitched 2.1 frames allowing one run on one hit while striking out three batters.

“I’m not trying to do anything different,” German said after his performance on the YES Network. “I don’t want to do too much [or] too little. Just trying to follow my plan of getting ready for the season and just trying to establish myself as a favorite for [the fifth rotation] spot.”

German’s performance was not exactly on par with Clarke Schmidt’s spring debut — who struck out five of the six batters he faced on Sunday afternoon. However, the 30-year-old figures to have a small leg up on his competitor early on.

German’s advantage comes from the fact that he has made 70 starts for the Yanks since 2018 while Schmidt has made just five since 2020. The battle to round out the Yanks’ rotation figures to come down to the wire.

Yankees No. 4 prospect — according to MLB Pipeline — Austin Wells has a rib fracture and will be out 6-8 weeks.

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The catcher figured to get plenty of playing time at major league camp as Higashioka is set to head off to the World Baseball Classic to play for Team USA.

It’s a massive blow for the 23-year-old who was knocking on the door of making a contribution in the Bronx. Wells slashed .277/.385/.512 with 20 homers and 65 RBI in 92 games between Low-A, High-A and Double-A.