The Yankees introduced their ALCS roster this morning, revealing that first baseman Anthony Rizzo and right-hander Marcus Stroman are again within the fold after sitting out their Division Sequence win over the Royals.
Rizzo suffered a pair of damaged fingers when he was hit by a pitch in September and was seen as a borderline name for the League Championship Sequence as he labored via his rehab. Stroman was wholesome however not included on the Division Sequence roster after skipper Aaron Boone made what he described as a troublesome determination to exclude the veteran in favor of an additional bat in a five-game collection. With the Yankees now prone to depend on 4 starters quite than three, Stroman is again within the combine.
Rizzo has had a tough season total, enduring a number of IL stints and posting a career-worst .228/.301/.335 batting line in 92 video games and 375 plate appearances. He’s one of many workforce’s most skilled playoff veterans, nonetheless, carrying 203 profession plate appearances — together with a hefty .276/.432/.552 slash in 9 playoff video games as a member of the Yankees. Rizzo was additionally a thorn within the facet of the Guardians this season, going 5-for-13 with a double, a stroll and three RBIs within the three video games he was wholesome sufficient to face them.
Stroman inked a two-year cope with the Yankees final offseason and began 29 video games for them in 2024 (along with one aid look). He pitched 154 2/3 innings, logging a 4.31 ERA with a 16.7% strikeout price, an 8.9% stroll price and a 49.2% grounder price. Each that strikeout price and ground-ball price signify notable steps again from Stroman’s 2023 ranges, and this 12 months’s 90 mph common velocity on his sinker was the bottom of his profession by a large margin (changing final 12 months’s 91.4 mph common). The Yankees at the moment have Carlos Rodon, Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt lined as much as begin the primary three video games of the collection, which begins tonight at 7:38pm ET within the Bronx.
Noticeably absent from the Yankees’ roster within the ALCS is southpaw Nestor Cortes. Like Rizzo, he’d been coping with an damage and was seen as a borderline name. He’s been out with a flexor pressure in his left elbow, however imaging revealed no injury to Cortes’ ulnar collateral ligament, and he’d lately been throwing after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection. Presumably, they’ll reevaluate him and contemplate him as a possible possibility for the World Sequence, ought to the Yankees topple the Guardians and advance to the Fall Basic.
The Yankees will drop speedy outfielder and pinch-running/defensive specialist Duke Ellis in addition to catcher/first baseman Ben Rice from the roster for this collection. Ellis appeared in just one sport of the ALDS (Recreation 4) and didn’t file a plate look. Rice didn’t get right into a sport within the Division Sequence, because the Yankees as a substitute went with utilitymen Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera at first base instead of the injured Rizzo.
Right here’s the total breakdown of New York’s roster as they battle Cleveland for the AL pennant:
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Utility Gamers
Pitchers
