Yankees are going to be conservative with Aaron Hicks’ back injury

After Aaron Hicks recently announced he would start the season on the injured list he also said he believed he would be able to return to the Yankees lineup by April 4th. However according to manager Aaron Boone that might be wishful thinking considering he has yet to resume baseball activities.

Hicks has been out of the Yankees lineup since March 2nd and although he’s begun to make strides towards a full recovery there’s no way he’s going to be ready to play on Opening Day. He thought he’d be back for the second series of the season starting April 4th but with less than a week to go until the opener he still hasn’t played in a game.

Since he suffered the injury relatively early in spring training the Yankees don’t need to rush him back for the first week of the season. That’s why the team plans on being conservative with Hicks so the back injury doesn’t linger and lead to something worse.

The Yankees are handling this the right way because even if Hicks misses the first week or two he’s still going to return with plenty of baseball left to be played. The Yankees have enough offensive firepower to be successful without him in the early going, but if he can’t return at some point in mid to late April then there will be some cause for concern.

Hicks is such an important member of this Yankee team because he can impact the game in so many different ways. He’s the leadoff hitter in the lineup and the anchor of the outfield defense in center field. He’s a switch hitter who hits for power from both sides of the plate and he has one of the best eyes on the team and always makes opposing pitchers work.

With Didi Gregorius out to start the season, Hicks was expected to be the Yankees top left-handed power source against right-handed pitchers. This Yankee lineup is predominantly right-handed although the more time Hicks misses that means the more Greg Bird will play. Until Hicks returns Brett Gardner will be the primary center fielder which means Giancarlo Stanton will see a lot of time in left field. Either Bird or Luke Voit will then get the majority of the at-bats at DH.

The good thing is the Yankees have a lot of depth with guys like Bird and Voit along with Tyler Wade who will also get more opportunities to play early on. All three have had great springs up to this point and clearly belong on the big league roster.

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The battle between Voit and Bird for that starting first base job will carry over into the season because they know once Hicks return one of them is likely going back to Triple-A. That means they’re going to be extra motivated to prove they should stay with the big club so I expect their spring success to carry over up north which would bode well for the Yanks.

As for Hicks let’s hope that once he comes back this is the last of his nagging injuries because since coming over to New York he’s experienced a handful of them. That didn’t scare the front office away from giving him a big seven-year extension back on February 25th which I don’t blame them for because Hicks was certainly deserving.

However, if these kinds of muscle injuries continue to plague him moving forward the Yankees could have another Jacoby Ellsbury situation on their hands, albeit Hicks is owed a lot less money. Obviously, I hope I’m wrong because unlike Ellsbury Hicks is still entering his prime and if he can stay healthy his best years are hopefully still ahead of him.