When the New York Yankees traded for Isiah Kiner-Falefa before last season, they expected him to be a quality stopgap until the top prospects, namely Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza, were ready for increased roles in the majors.
Peraza is ready, and Volpe may only need a few weeks at Triple-A, yet Kiner-Falefa had a horrible 2022 that made the Yanks question whether they made the right move.
Last year, he slashed .261/.314/.327 with four homers and a .642 OPS in 142 games.
142 games and 531 trips to the plate were necessary for him to reach the grand total of four home runs.
Still, that didn’t matter on Friday.
IKF went yard with a man based on reminding people that he is not an absolute zero in the category.
2-run blast from IKF 💪 pic.twitter.com/huAh56jSEJ
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 10, 2023
Kiner-Falefa is still technically competing for the starting gig at shortstop, but Peraza is considered the favorite.
Manager Aaron Boone has stated that if IKF doesn’t win the shortstop gig, he will be used as a super-utility player to help cover at second, third, shortstop, the outfield, and also catcher in case of an emergency.
He has value as a backup because of his versatility, so it’s nice to see him producing a bit in spring training.
However, as last year he showed, he is stretched as a starting player and his value evaporates if he is used like that again.
The Yankees have understood this and made sure that if he entered the 2023 campaign as the starting shortstop again, it would be because he earned it and not because of anything else.
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