Yankees position analysis: Giancarlo Stanton will be part of time-sharing plan in leftfield

During his pandemic-induced baseball hiatus, we examine the Yankees as an organization, position by position. Today, leftfield.

The starter: That is the question, isn’t it? Giancarlo Stanton’s health, an issue last season when an assortment of injuries limited him to 18 games, suffered a Grade 1 right calf strain early in spring training this year. Stanton, 30, has been rehabbing the injury since then and by all accounts should be game-ready if and when MLB is able to resume. But Stanton, almost exclusively a rightfielder in eight seasons with the Marlins before his trade to the Yankees before the 2018 season, won’t be the everyday leftfielder even when he is cleared to play. He’ll see some time there but likely will receive most of his action at DH, the case in 2018, when he appeared in 158 games (86 at DH, 37 in right and 36 in left).

If Aaron Hicks were healthy, the answer would be Brett Gardner, but with Hicks recovering from offseason Tommy John surgery, Gardner would have been the full-time centerfielder for at least the first two months if the season had started on time.

Eight players saw time in left last season, led by Mike Tauchman (59 games), who showed he could play all three outfield spots. As long as Gardner is in center, Tauchman, 29, an under-the-radar acquisition just before 2019 spring training ended, probably will see the majority of the time in left. In addition to his flexibility in the outfield, the lefty-swinging Tauchman demonstrated some surprising pop at the plate, hitting .277 with an .865 OPS, 13 homers and 18 doubles in 87 games. His season was cut short by a fluke Grade 2 left calf strain suffered in early September.

The other options: Cameron Maybin was next on the 2019 Yankees in games played in left with 46, but he signed a free-agent contract with the Tigers. Rosell Herrera, a non-roster invitee who can play a variety of positions, left included, made a terrific impression before spring training was shut down. Trey Amburgey, a 13th-round pick in 2015 who can play all three outfield spots and ended 2019 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, also was having a solid spring training. Zack Granite, another non-roster invitee, has mainly played center in the minors but also has proved capable in left.

 A wild card is Clint Frazier, who since his big-league debut in 2017 has shown a major league-caliber bat but a shaky glove, at best. Last season was particularly nightmarish in the field for Frazier, now 25, but early indications in spring training suggested the worst of those issues, while maybe not completely fixed, might be behind him. In 69 games in the majors last season, he hit .267 with an .806 OPS, 12 homers and 14 doubles.

The future: The prospect at the lower levels who has played the most leftfield, and received the most consistent praise from rival scouts, is Canaan Smith, 21, who was the Yankees’ fourth- round pick in the 2017 draft. He finished last season with Class A Charleston. The lefthanded-hitting Smith has played 159 of his 185 career minor league games in left and has shown a decent, and at time good, throwing arm. Smith had a tough go at the plate in 2018 for short-season Class A Staten Island, hitting .191 with a .596 OPS in 45 games, but came back strong last year for Charleston, hitting .307 with an .871 OPS, 11 homers and 32 doubles in 124 games (he also stole 16 bases).

 Touted outfield prospects Everson Pereira, 19, and Kevin Alcantara, 17, haven’t played left in their brief minor-league careers — Pereira finished last season with Staten Island and Alcantara’played in the rookie Gulf Coast League last year in his first professional season — but, as is the case with just about any prospects that age, one never knows exactly where they could end up. 

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.