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Yankees sadly lose Jose Trevino to IL, but call up Very Real Person to replace him

Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Yanks Go Yard

New York Yankees v Toronto Blue Jays / Vaughn Ridley/GettyImages

Let's get the bad news out of the way quickly. Somewhere along the line, during his "unsung hero" three-hit night in Tuesday's win, catcher Jose Trevino wound up with a left hamstring strain that will send him to the Injured List.

Though Trevino hasn't been quite as prolific offensively this season as he was during his breakout 2022 All-Star campaign, his framing work has remained magnificent, which is how he earned his Platinum Glove last year. He's also been ... well, markedly clutch, recording a walk-off this season already against the Guardians.

Hopefully, this strain is low-grade, and he's able to come back in due time. At the very least, his replacement is ... very interesting.

Say hello to Ben Rortvedt, who is absolutely a real man, and who's walked a very winding road to get here.

Yankees promote Ben Rortvedt and place Jose Trevino on IL

After being acquired as the third piece in the Josh Donaldson/Isiah Kiner-Falefa trade (yay), Rortvedt missed the entirety of the 2022 season with an oblique strain and a knee procedure that accompanied his return from the first ailment. Ironically, Rortvedt's oblique strain might've been the impetus to trade for Trevino in the first place.

He arrived at spring training this year ready to make an impact, but was quickly felled by numbness in his fingers. That was quickly determined to be a symptom of “an aneurysm of his posterior artery," and the procedure to clean up that scary injury left him sidelined until his recent return to the minors.

Since being activated, Rortvedt is mashing, hitting .327 with a .421 OBP and 1.033 OPS. Needless to say, there's no one Yankees fans will be more willing to root for, after going through the ringer with him over the past year.

And, yes, he bats lefty. What's not to like?

Trevino could use a rest over the course of a long season, anyway, and must make certain this doesn't linger, like the toe injury that sapped his power last year. What better time than the present to see what Rortvedt, who's definitely a real boy, has in store?

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.