The Grapefruit League season marches on tonight. Michael Pineda is making his third start of the spring overall and his first televised outing. This’ll be our first time seeing Big Mike in action since last year. His first spring start was pretty good. The second … not so much. Classic Pineda. Which guy will show up tonight? The guy with the nasty slider and a ton of strike ’em outs, or the guy with a nasty slider and a ton of hits allowed? Stay tuned!
What else is there to pay attention to tonight? I guess Chad Green, who is competing for a rotation spot and is scheduled to come out of the bullpen. He’s allowed one run in 5.2 innings this spring, but he’s also walked five and struck out three, which ain’t good. If I had to guess, I’d say Green lags behind the others in the rotation race right now. Here is the lineup the Phillies sent over and here are the players the Yankees will use:
- LF Brett Gardner
- CF Jacoby Ellsbury
- C Gary Sanchez
- DH Matt Holliday
- 1B Greg Bird
- 2B Starlin Castro
- 3B Chase Headley
- RF Aaron Hicks
- SS Tyler Wade
RHP Michael Pineda
Available Pitchers: LHP Aroldis Chapman, RHP Chad Green, RHP Ben Heller, LHP Chasen Shreve, and RHP J.R. Graham are all scheduled to pitch tonight. RHP Andrew Schwaab, RHP Eric Ruth, RHP Travis Hissong, and LHP Nestor Cortes are all up from minor league camp to serve as the extra arms.
Available Position Players: C Austin Romine, 1B Ji-Man Choi, 2B Ruben Tejada, SS Gleyber Torres, 3B Pete Kozma, LF Rob Refsnyder, CF Dustin Fowler, RF Billy McKinney, and DH Donovan Solano will be the second string off the bench. Solano is just back from the World Baseball Classic. C Kyle Higashioka, SS Jorge Mateo, 3B Miguel Andujar, OF Clint Frazier, OF Mason Williams, and UTIL Wilkin Castillo are the extra players.
Clear skies in Tampa tonight and the internet tells me it’s downright chilly. All I care about is rain and there’s none of that in the forecast. Tonight’s game will start at 6:35pm ET and you can watch on YES. There’s also MLB.tv and the FOX Sports Go app. Enjoy the game.