Yankees: Troy Tulowtizki’s comeback is off to a good start

Troy Tulowitzki’s comeback season is off to a great start. After missing the entire season in 2018 the Yankees new shortstop has hit a home run in each of his first two games of Spring Training.

On Monday Tulowitzki returned to action for the first time since the 2017 season and in his first at-bat with the Yankees, he blasted an opposite-field home run. The home run came against right-hander Marcus Stroman and his former team the Blue Jays. Before the Yanks signed Tulo to a one-year deal for the league minimum the Jays released him in December despite still owing him $38 million over the next two seasons.

When the ball sailed over the wall you could see how pumped Tulo was and how much the moment meant to him as he rounded the bases.

Speaking to reporters and ESPN’s Coley Harvey following the game Tulo joked “it was the biggest spring training home run I’ve ever hit”, and admitted that it was extra special because of who the opponent was.

"“That was the team that basically told me I couldn’t play anymore,” Tulowitzki said. “You guys know the story. You know what happened. So yeah. No doubt about it. It was definitely extra, extra special.”"

Clearly, Tulo enters this season with the Yankees more motivated than ever to prove that he still has a lot of good baseball left in him. He got off to a hot start on Monday and after two straight days off he was right back at it again on Thursday against the Pirates. In his first at-bat of the day Tulo launched a three-run home run well over the left field wall to give the Yanks an early 3-0 lead in their 8-6 win.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Aaron Judge’s ‘breadcrumbs’ showed he was never leaving Yankees, has more moves in mind
• Creating a Yankees-Bryan Reynolds trade package after latest Pirates update
• Yankees analyst Cameron Maybin projects surprise landing spot for Gary Sánchez
• Yankees swipe intriguing minor-league FA lefty flamethrower from Braves
• What does Carlos Rodón’s new jersey number mean for Domingo Germán?

I’m sure the Yankees are happy to see Tulowitzki have good results this early in the spring but the most important thing in their eyes right now has to be that he’s healthy. That’s obviously the biggest key for Tulo because as good as he’s looked all spring and in his first two games none of that means anything if he can’t make it to Opening Day 100% healthy.

That’s why the Yankees are going to continue to bring him along slowly and make sure they don’t overwork him for the remainder of camp. That will continue into the regular season as skipper Aaron Boone has already said that Tulo isn’t going to play every day according to George King III of the New York Post.

Part of the reason why is he hasn’t played over 100 games since 2016 but also because the Yanks need to find a way to get utility man D.J. LeMahieu into the lineup as often as possible. With Gleyber Torres’ ability to play shortstop Boone says LeMahieu will fill in for him at second on the days Tulo has off.

"“You still envision Tulo off a couple of days a week, which means Gleyber moves over on those days. There is a day a week or every 10 days Gleyber gets a day off. A day off or two for [Miguel] Andujar and the day [Andujar DHs]."

Even if Tulo can stay healthy until Didi Gregorius returns this is the right way to go for the Yankees because they didn’t sign LeMahieu for $24M just to have him come off the bench. And as nice as it would be to see Tulo produce at a high level offensively like he used to the odds of that happening aren’t very high.

The main thing the Yanks need from him on the days he plays is solid defense and if he can hit for some power down near the bottom of the lineup that would be an added bonus. The good thing about this Yankee team is they have a lot of depth in their infield even without Didi so the extra days off could end up benefiting Tulowitzki once the regular season rolls around.