Yankees: Mike Tauchman exits game after fouling ball off leg

UPDATE: Mike Tauchman won’t get X-Rays until the morning, per Yankees manager Aaron Boone. He’s icing his calf.

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In another example in a long line of reasons why we should be long done with spring training at this point (as well as why Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton aren’t playing Sunday), Yankees outfielder Mike Tauchman chased good news with bad news at the plate.

The good news? Tauchman, after a spring that brought about a power resurgence, officially learned he made the team Saturday in the wake of Jay Bruce’s temporary move to first.

The bad news? One wayward foul ball left him sprawled in pain Sunday.

Tauchman finished the at-bat, played an inning in the field (which he spent favoring one side of his body), then headed down to the tunnel.

There’s no use in playing through pain at this point, and hopefully the Yankees are choosing caution over foolishness for once.

The flip side, though? There’s also no use in playing at all, really.

Yankees outfielder Mike Tauchman left Sunday’s game with a leg injury.

A valiant and unnecessary effort by Tauchman to stay in the game without a doubt, but it appears that even after dodging trade rumors all winter long, the scrappy outfielder still couldn’t duck the inevitable: one, final injury scare before breaking camp with the Bombers.

Following this team is occasionally…the worst.

It’s difficult to tell where exactly the ball struck him in the above video, but the discomfort lingered in the ankle, leading to veteran Ryan LaMarre wisely subbing in for Tauchman before he played another ill-advised inning.

Who’s the “next man up” here? Bruce was plainly declared the “starting first baseman,” so there’s no way Mike Ford slides into that role and turns the slugger back into a fourth outfielder.

The inevitability of Brett Gardner may have reared its head yet again, with Estevan Florial existing as a potential dark horse 40-man option if need be (remember, Greg Allen was removed from that roster recently to accommodate other moves).

Hopefully, this is a spot of swelling and nothing else. Tauchman’s been a survivor this spring, and it would be a shame to watch him surrender to friendly fire right on the precipice of the curtain rising on the 2021 season.

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