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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff WriterOct 14, 2024, 11:17 AM ET
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — Four wins shy of their first World Series appearance since 2009, the New York Yankees included veterans Anthony Rizzo and Marcus Stroman on their roster for the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians.
Rizzo hasn’t played since fracturing his right hand’s fourth and fifth fingers when he was hit by a pitch Sept. 28, the penultimate day of the regular season. He later said the typical recovery timetable is three to four weeks, but after ramping up baseball activities over the weekend, Rizzo was in the starting lineup for Monday’s Game 1, playing first base and batting eighth — just 16 days after suffering the injury.
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Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team’s brass deliberated adding Rizzo to the roster until Sunday night. The team used a combination of Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera at first base in the AL Division Series against the Kansas City Royals.
“Pretty adamant yesterday that he’s ready to go,” Boone said. “Trainers feel like he’s in a good spot. I feel like just watching him out in the field defensively, he looks very Anthony-ish.”
Rizzo has not faced live pitching since suffering the injury, but he said he believed he was ready when he went through a series of drills Saturday and woke up Sunday feeling the same as the previous morning. Doctors have told Rizzo he is not at risk of worsening the injury; it’s a matter of pain tolerance.
He had a brace made for his first baseman mitt and has extra padding for protection. He’ll also have more protection over his right batting glove.
Other than that, Rizzo said the only adjustment he’ll probably make is sliding with his right hand up.
“It’s just pain,” Rizzo said. “It’s temporary, and the 50,000 people in the stands and the adrenaline and what’s at stake is going to outweigh any pain I’ll be feeling.”
Rizzo, 35, had the worst offensive season of his career, batting .228 with a .637 OPS in 92 games, but the four-time Gold Glove winner is a defensive upgrade at first base over Berti, who had never played the position professionally before the postseason, and Cabrera, who had just five career starts at first base before October.
“I’ve had the opportunity throughout my career to play a good amount of postseason baseball, and this is what you play for,” said Rizzo, who starred on the Chicago Cubs‘ 2016 World Series team. “The clock is only ticking on my age. I’m getting older. You just never know when you’re going to have an opportunity to play for a pennant again, ever again. You can’t take any of this for granted.”
As for Stroman, the Yankees decided a long reliever wasn’t necessary for a five-game series with off days after Game 1 and Game 2. The ALCS, however, is a seven-game series with fewer off days, potentially placing more stress on bullpens, and Stroman gives the Yankees an option to eat innings to spare high-leverage relievers from low-leverage situations.
“He definitely provides length for us down there,” Boone said. “But, at the same time, you never know. You can find yourself in the biggest moment, in the biggest spot of the series. It’s the playoffs.”
Stroman, 33, hasn’t pitched since giving up six runs over 3⅓ innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 25. He has pitched just twice — logging 6⅓ total innings — over the past month and has just one relief appearance this season. He finished the regular season with a 4.31 ERA over 154⅔ innings.
The two veterans replaced rookie first baseman Ben Rice and pinch-running specialist Duke Ellis from the ALDS roster, giving the Yankees 12 pitchers and 14 position players for the ALCS. Rice didn’t appear in any of the four ALDS games. Ellis entered Game 4 as a pinch runner.
The Guardians made one change from their ALDS roster for the ALCS, replacing infielder Angel Martinez with right-hander Pedro Avila to give them 13 pitchers and 13 position players.
Martinez had one pinch-hit appearance in the Guardians’ five-game NLDS against the Detroit Tigers. Avila posted a 3.25 ERA in 50 relief appearances during the regular season.
