Yankees: Getting you ready for the Grapefruit League opener

The Yankees begin Grapefruit League play on Saturday at 1:05 PM versus the reigning World Series champion Red Sox at JetBlue Park in Ft. Myers, FLA. Here’s what you should know.

Today we get our first taste of the 2019 MLB season as the revitalized New York Yankees take on the team that knocked them out of last season’s ALDS — and eventually went onto win the World Series.

With this being the first game of Grapefruit League play, an away game at that, many of the regular Yankee starters won’t be making the 141-mile trip from Tampa to Ft. Myers.

Manager Aaron Boone’s lineup does feature a few familiar faces — and looks like this:

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1. CF: Aaron Hicks
2. 2B Gleyber Torres
3. 3B: Miguel Andujar
4. 1B: Greg Bird
5. LF: Clint Frazier
6. DH: Mike Ford
7. C: Kyler Higashioka
8. SS: Tyler Wade
9. RF: Matt Lipka

Taking the hill for the Yanks will be non-roster invitee Nestor Cortes, who is coming off of 42 innings pitched (eight starts) in the Dominican Winter League — and therefore is a bit ahead of other Yankee pitchers.

As you may recall, Cortes was claimed by the Orioles in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft. And although he made their 2018 Opening Day roster, Cortes only stuck around with the big league team for four games before being taken off the 25-man roster and therefore offered back to the Yankees; who quickly brought him back.

The 24-year-old left-hander ended up pitching in 24 minor league games — 23 of which came at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Across 111.2 innings (18 starts) for the Railriders, Cortes went 6-6 with a 3.71 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, .228 BAA and a 96:38 K:BB ratio.

This spring, pitchers will be dealing with a new 20-second pitch clock. All signs point to this practice being adopted for the regular season if MLB feels it further speeds up games and there is minimal pushback from teams and players.

Aaron Boone recently told Randy Miller of NJ.com that he feels the pitch clock won’t be an issue.

"“I think we’ll probably get to a point where we don’t even really notice it and it’s not even part of guys having any angst or disturbance out there. I think in the early days here of spring training, the umpires are getting used to it as well and they’ll try to get a feel. I think we’ll try to educate ourselves and get the rhythm, but I don’t think players are going to have to make massive adjustments."

Spring Training game or not, it’s wonderful to know that baseball is officially back as the Bombers set out on their quest for championship No. 28! Today’s contest will air on the MLB Network.