TAMPA, Fla. – When the Yankees were in Pittsburgh last April, Cody Bellinger pointed to the area near his lower back and upper right hip, attempting to pinpoint the discomfort that was keeping him out of the lineup.
“It’s just a little unaligned,” Bellinger said then. “It creates a little bit of tightness. I’ve had it before multiple times. I just know it’s a few days thing.”
Bellinger is dealing with that familiar issue again, according to manager Aaron Boone, who said the 30-year-old’s “back went out on him” on Friday.
“He’ll probably, I’m guessing, [miss] a couple of days,” Boone said Saturday after the Yankees’ 5-1 Grapefruit League victory over the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “He’s quite a bit better today. So we don’t think it’s anything. The trainers aren’t too concerned about it.
“This is something that crops up on him every now and then, usually sometime in the spring or earlier in the year. We dealt with it a little bit in-season early last year.”
Boone said Bellinger could return to the lineup on Tuesday, when the Yankees are scheduled to host Team Panama in an exhibition.
That’s also the scheduled date for Giancarlo Stanton’s spring debut, as the slugger has been preparing for the season despite tennis elbow in both arms.
Bellinger signed a five-year, $162.5 million contract with the Yankees in late January. He slashed .272/.334/.480 with 25 doubles, 29 homers and 98 RBIs in 152 games for New York last season.