In the Yankees’ Spring Training opener, they hosted the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field, which will become the home of Tampa Bay this upcoming regular season. With Marcus Stroman getting the ball for the opener, the results for a Spring Training game aren’t all that important, but it’s still cool to get the win.
Thanks to a great pitching performance as a team and some early scoring, the Yankees were able to grab a smooth 4-0 win over the Rays, as the Bronx Bombers got plenty of positive signs from a plethora of contributors. From young pitchers showing promise to new faces making impressive plays, it was a productive day for the Yankees in what proved to be an action-packed contest full of guys worth paying attention to.
Will Warren Shoves, Paul Goldschmidt Makes Strong First Impression
Marcus Stroman set the tone in the first inning, working out of some trouble to complete a scoreless first inning of work before handing the ball off to Will Warren. The right-hander was coming off of a tough 2024 season at both the Triple-A and Major League levels, but he was able to quickly put it behind him with an impressive showing against the Rays, striking out three batters across two scoreless innings of work.
The right-hander flashed an improved changeup that averaged more drop than it did last season, as it was his most prominently used pitch this afternoon. He picked up three whiffs on the pitch and some soft contact as well, striking three batters with just one walk in his brief outing. An impressive performance, the Yankees struck out 11 batters across their nine innings of work with no runs allowed.
On offense, Paul Goldschmidt’s towering two-RBI double to left field gave the Yankees an immediate 2-0 lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish as they controlled this game from start to finish. If he can provide that kind of offense this season, the Yankees won’t have trouble putting runs on the board, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to overreact to what is a one-game sample size in an exhibition matchup.
What is noteworthy is that Goldschmidt’s 104.4 MPH double would have been the second-hardest struck ball of Anthony Rizzo’s 2024 season, and raw power was sorely missed at 1B last season.
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JT Brubaker Exits Game After Comebacker, Yankees Could Be Down an Arm
After delivering a clean inning of work, JT Brubaker was struck by a comebacker in his second frame and had to exit the game because of it. The ball hit what seemed to be his hip, and while he was able to walk off the mound on his own, an injury to the right-hander could be a tough blow to the team’s rotation depth chart. Without Brubaker in the mix, the Yankees would lose someone capable of making a start on short notice if he is seriously injured.
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The hope is that there’s just soreness and no structural damage, but the team is likely doing tests as we speak to further understand the severity of the injury. Concern over this injury isn’t as high due to the location of the injury and the way he walked off the field, and it’s possible that the team felt the need to pull him simply out of precaution since it is just an exhibition game and there’s no need to push things.