PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The New York Yankees officially placed left fielder Cody Bellinger on the 10-day injured list on Sunday with a left hamstring strain, and recalled Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre to take Bellinger\u2019s spot on the roster.<\/p>\n
Bellinger exited Saturday\u2019s 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies after injuring his hamstring while rounding first base in the top of the eighth. Bellinger initially remained in the game before he limped to the dugout and into the clubhouse between innings.<\/p>\n
Losing Bellinger is a significant blow for the Yankees, whose depth continues to get tested on the position-player side. Bellinger now joins Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list, three players who were seen as cornerstones for the Yankees\u2019 lineup entering the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a huge member of our team and what we do,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said of Bellinger on Saturday. \u201cJust a tremendous all-around player.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Bernie Williams is a real one in the smooth-jazz world.”<\/p>\n
Bellinger has a 118 wRC+ on the season and 19 defensive runs saved, which is the most among all left fielders in MLB. The Yankees would likely feel his absence most on defense. The drop-off from Bellinger to Jones is steep. Max Schuemann ultimately replaced Bellinger in left field on Saturday, and he is expected to be in the lineup on Sunday against Phillies left-handed starter Cristopher S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n
Jones has yet to play left field this season, but he can play all three outfield positions, even though he is not considered an extraordinary fielder at any position. With Bellinger now shelved, the Yankees could turn to Jones in left field or shift Jasson Dom\u00ednguez from right field. Dom\u00ednguez was one of MLB\u2019s worst defenders in left field last season, as he struggled with inconsistent routes and reads. He has looked considerably more comfortable in right field, though he has still graded out negatively.<\/p>\n
Offensively, Bellinger hasn\u2019t produced at his usual level since Judge, who hasn\u2019t played since May 31, landed on the injured list. He has posted an 87 wRC+ since June 1, and he has the 20th-worst slugging percentage among all qualified hitters during that span. Bellinger also hasn\u2019t homered since June 17; his 31-game homerless streak is two games shy of his career-long drought. Even amid that slump, Bellinger still represents a stronger offensive option than any of the Yankees\u2019 internal alternatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I hit a cold stretch there for a little bit,\u201d Bellinger said. \u201cIt was way longer than I ever wanted it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellinger hasn\u2019t been the only problem with the Yankees\u2019 offense since the start of June, though he\u2019s been one of the key issues. New York enters Sunday night\u2019s game with an 89 wRC+ since June 1, tied for the fifth-worst in MLB. With the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaching, Bellinger\u2019s absence may now force Yankees general manager Brian Cashman to prioritize adding an outfielder and even more offense to a lineup that has struggled for nearly two months.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear which outfielders may be available on the market. Boone mentioned that his sense was many clubs were still determining their direction. But some outfielders for the Yankees to consider may include Kansas City\u2019s Lane Thomas, Baltimore\u2019s Taylor Ward, Colorado\u2019s Mickey Moniak and Cincinnati\u2019s JJ Bleday and Spencer Steer.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too early to know if the Yankees\u2019 trade plans will be altered in light of Bellinger missing time. Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham had a minor hamstring injury earlier this season \u2014 one in which he was able to run the following day \u2014 and he still missed 19 games. Generally, a Grade 1 hamstring strain often sidelines players for several weeks, while more significant strains can require months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The New York Yankees officially placed left fielder Cody Bellinger on the 10-day injured list on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[42647,9,11,10,321],"class_list":["post-306113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-yankees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}