BALTIMORE — Yankees manager Aaron Boone remained optimistic that the injury to Josh Donaldson wasn’t serious, but Boone did indicate that he was likely headed to the injured list.
Boone said ahead of Friday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles that a decision about placing Donaldson on the IL would be made by the end of the day. Donaldson had been dealing with right hamstring tightness since he exited Wednesday’s game against the Phillies in the third inning.
“Don’t feel like it’s too serious. … We’re likely going to be cautious in this situation,” Boone said.
The Yankees skipper added that Donaldson did not have an MRI. Donaldson did not make the trip to Baltimore with the team and had been working out on Friday.
While there had been some thought that an injury could mean the call-up of Oswald Peraza, Boone is going to give a majority of the playing time at third to DJ LeMahieu. The 34-year-old was in the lineup at third on Friday for the series opener against the Orioles.
“I’ll spot (Oswaldo) Cabrera in there Possibly,” Boone said. “(Isiah Kiner-Falefa) can obviously play over there. But yeah, DJ will get the bulk of that.”
The Yankees play three games against the Orioles before traveling to Cleveland for a three-game set against the Guardians.
Estevan Florial outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
Estevan Florial cleared waivers and the Yankees outrighted him to Triple-A, the team announced on Friday. The news came as a bit of a surprise that none of the other 29 major league teams opted to take a shot with Florial.
He had been a highly touted prospect, but he struggled during the spring. In 23 spring training games, he bated .163 with one home run and seven hits.
The 25-year-old will now get a chance to prove that he’s deserving of big league shot in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
