Ryan McMahon was on the Yankees’ Opening Day lineup card at third base. On Tuesday night in the series opener against the Royals, Amed Rosario was there instead, with Michael Wacha, a right-hander, on the mound for Kansas City.
The move was not presented as a one-game message. Boone said this is probably a stretch in which McMahon will not start, a run shaped as much by the calendar as by the player. McMahon was 5-for-42 at the time of the game, and all five hits were singles. He had two RBI and eight walks. Rosario was 9-for-34, with one double, two home runs and six RBI, numbers that help explain why Boone turned to him for the opener of a three-game set.
Boone said McMahon is working on a lot of things behind the scenes and that he sees some progress. The manager also said the Yankees need McMahon and expect him to be a real factor, both defensively and offensively. For now, though, the next six games point in the other direction. Boone said the upcoming matchups are a little more difficult, with the Royals series followed by two southpaws and then two lefties in the Red Sox series.
That is the real reason McMahon’s playing time is in flux. Boone said there will be lefties in the lineup against Cole Ragans on Sunday because of reverse splits, a nod to the way the Yankees are trying to line up each game rather than locking into one answer at third base. Rosario’s stronger bat is part of the equation, but so is the opponent. McMahon opened the year as the starter. Now he is being asked to wait while the team works through a stretch that does not make his job easier.
Boone said McMahon can kind of rotate that front side, which gets him in and out of the zone a little bit, and that he wants him staying more square with his shoulders. He described McMahon as talented offensively, with real juice in the bat and knowledge of the strike zone, while adding that the club needs his production, especially near the bottom of the lineup. The question is whether that work behind the scenes shows up soon enough to win back the job while the schedule keeps steering the Yankees toward left-handed pitching.
