Yankees need to give Troy Tulowitzki time to find his footing

Troy Tulowitzki is off to an inauspicious start to his Yankees career. However, after playing in only 66 games since 2017, did anyone expect the five-time All-Star not to scuffle?

To be honest, I was a little surprised when Troy Tulowitzki opened Grapefruit League play with a 3-for-6 showing, which included a double, a pair of home runs and five RBIs in just three games for his new club, the Yankees.

After all, this is a 34-year-old shortstop that missed all of last season following surgery on both his heels — and only managed to suit up 66 times in 2017.

Therefore, his recent slump over the past five games doesn’t strike me with shock and horror as it has some. No, his 1-for-14 string of at-bats with eight strikeouts isn’t ideal — nor is his .200 batting average and .777 OPS, but hitting is all about timing.

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On Sunday, following the Yankees 6-5 win over the Pirates, manager Aaron Boone told the New York Post just that.

"“He’s just a little late [on pitches],’’ Boone said after the game at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “He’s facing big-time velocity. He’ll get there — I’m convinced of that — timing-wise. He needs reps now.”"

You can take hundreds of rips off a tee, or as many soft-tossed hacks in batting practice as you’d like, but until a player steps into the batter’s box in an actual game setting, no one should put much stock into 20 at-bats versus a majority of pitchers that will populate the minor leagues.

A major point of emphasis for Tulowitzki is proving that he’s healthy enough to play this game — and after seven full innings on Sunday, Boone believes Tulo is on the right track, as he told Newsday.

"“I’m seeing enough encouraging things out of him, and another one [was] going out there for the seventh inning. He responded well coming out and we’ll see how he bounces back now on the off day.”"

While Spring Training is important when it comes to positional battles — say, Luke Voit versus Greg Bird, the Yankees have already declared Tulo, the two-time Gold Glove winner, their Opening Day shortstop. 

Obviously, should he scuffle for the entirety of spring, and it bleeds over into the first few weeks of the regular season, then a change will be made.

With Didi Gregorius expected to be out of action until at least June — and Gleyber Torres’ ability to play short, general manager Brian Cashman backed himself up by signing a superb defender, yet fellow struggling former Rockie in D.J. LeMahieu.

For what it’s worth, LeMahieu, who signed a far richer two-year, $24 million deal, as opposed to Tulo’s one-year veteran’s minimum contract of $555k is 5-for-27 this spring (.185 BA, .500 OPS). So does anyone expect LeMahieu to be released anytime soon?