Yankees: Will Mike Tauchman make the Opening Day roster over Clint Frazier?

This Spring Training one of the biggest position battles to keep an eye on at Yankees camp will be between outfielders Clint Frazier and Mike Tauchman. New York’s 26-man roster will likely only feature four outfielders on Opening Day which means one of them will be the odd man and start the season at Triple-A.

Heading into this season we have a pretty good idea of who will be in the Yankees starting lineup on March 26th in Baltimore but the same can’t be said about who will be on their bench.

The new rule change to a 26-man roster instead of 25 should open up another spot for a position player to make the team, but it probably won’t be another outfielder. After featuring a three-man bench last season the Yankees will likely carry four players on the bench in addition to 13 pitchers to make up their 26-man roster.

Right now we can assume that Kyle Higashioka will be the backup for Gary Sanchez, despite the fact that the Yankees have now signed three catchers to minor league deals this offseason. Given the lack of left-handed pop on the roster, I think Mike Ford has a great chance at making the team, but if he doesn’t the next two spots could go to both Thairo Estrada and Tyler Wade. Although, if Ford makes the roster out of camp than only one of them will be the utility infielder heading into the season and the other will start the year at Scranton.

With Aaron Hicks out to start the year the expectation is Brett Gardner will fill in as the starter in center. In left field Giancarlo Stanton will be the starter on a more regular basis than he was in 2018 in order to open up the DH spot for Miguel Andujar. Andujar could also end up seeing some time in left or at first base, but he’s a guarantee to make the roster either way so he won’t be taking a spot away from Tauchman, Frazier or any of the other names mentioned above.

That leaves Frazier and Tauchman to battle out it for the fourth outfielder spot which is going to be a very important role for the Yanks this season just as it was a season ago. Given Gardner’s age and Stanton’s recent history with injuries, neither one of them is going to play in the outfield every day so the fourth outfielder off the bench is going to play a decent amount.

Right now I’d have to give Tauchman a big edge over Frazier heading into camp for a couple of reasons. First of all, he’s the better defender between the two and it’s not even close. Tauchman was sixth in defensive runs saved among outfielders last season with 16 despite only playing in 694.1 innings. That was the lowest amount played in the top sixth and only lower than his teammate Aaron Judge who had 19 DRS in 775.1 innings.

Tauchman spent most of his time in left last season but unlike Frazier, he can play all three positions at a high level and the Yanks are going to need someone who can do that this year while Hicks is out. Frazier, to be blunt, hasn’t even proven that he can be a capable defender in the outfield so far in his young big league career.

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On the offensive side, both players shined when they get their opportunity to play consistently at different points of last season. Frazier’s contributions came during the first half of the season when he hit .284 with 11 HR and 34 RBI. After the Yanks acquired Edwin Encarnacion he was sent down in early June and didn’t return until rosters expanded in September and then he only hit .176.

Tauchman started off slow hitting .228 before the All-Star break but then he hit .423 in July with a 1.224 OPS. Overall he was outstanding after the break hitting .315 with an OPS of .977 so I think recency bias would give him an edge there as well. That and the fact that he’s a left-handed hitter which is something the Yankees roster is seriously lacking.

It’s hard to say what the future holds for Frazier in pinstripes because unless an outfielder gets injured during Spring Training I just don’t see him making the Opening Day roster. There’s really no need to carry a fifth outfielder unless it was for defensive purposes as a late-game replacement and we all know that’s not Frazier’s strong suit.

Tauchman, on the other hand, is an ideal fourth outfielder to have on the roster because he bats lefty and he’s a versatilite defender with great speed.