NEW YORK -- Joc Pederson hasn’t played the outfield consistently since September 2023, when he was with the Giants.
Despite signing with the Diamondbacks as an outfielder, he didn’t see any action at any position across his 132 games in Arizona. He has only started at first base and designated hitter with the Rangers over the last season and some change, though he did log three innings in right field in an emergency situation in 2025.
All that to say, Pederson doesn’t even own an outfield glove anymore. When he showed up in Surprise for Spring Training in 2025, former manager Bruce Bochy told him he wasn’t going to need it.
He needed that glove on Thursday, when he made his first start in the outfield in three years in the Rangers’ 9-2 finale loss to the Yankees in the Bronx.
“I’m excited,” Pederson before the game. “I played outfield for a long time. I think sometimes this game moves really fast. I never thought I wasn't ever going to play outfield, but it happened. It's something I've done my whole life, so to be able to have another opportunity in Yankee Stadium is kind of a cool moment.”
Pederson came up as an outfielder with the Dodgers and has 939 career games across the three positions, the majority of which came between his rookie year in 2014 and 2022 with the Giants.
With right fielder Brandon Nimmo at designated hitter on Thursday due to a nagging right hamstring issue and the Yankees going with a bullpen game, Pederson’s abilities in the outfield were necessary, even if just for a few innings.
“He's done it before,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “He's an athlete. I don't think he's gonna play nine innings out there, but we were trying to get his bat in the lineup. This is the way to do it. He wants to play. He’s not apprehensive at all. He is excited for the opportunity. He's going to be replaced defensively if we get the opportunity to do it. Depending on what they do with their bullpen, it could be not that many innings at all.”
He only played five innings of defense, but the ball immediately found him in the first inning, when Paul Goldschmidt lined one in the right-center gap for a triple. Then, Cody Bellinger lined another directly at Pederson, who attempted to make a diving play. The ball got by him for the Yankees’ second triple of the inning.
“The ball is going to find you,” Schumaker said. “I don't think anybody catches that ball. Maybe you can get in front of it, and it's only a single. But with Joc, we're trying to do everything we could to get his bat in the lineup. He played fine. We flipped him out when we could. He dove after the ball and missed it. Guys do that in the league that have played there for the last three years. It’s part of the deal.”