The start of the 2019 baseball season is quickly approaching and for the New York Yankees that date is only a couple of months away.
The baseball offseason is in full force, but that doesn’t mean we can not get excited about next season. On Friday, the New York Yankees announced that pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training on Feb. 13, while position players are expected report six days later, Feb. 19.
Mark your calendar! #Yankees pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Feb. 13, and hold their first workout on Valentine’s Day. Position players are scheduled to report on Feb. 18. The first full-squad workout is Feb. 19.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) December 7, 2018
Now, of course, there is plenty of work left for Brian Cashman and his staff when determining which pitchers will be the ones reporting to Tampa in February. The team is still in the market for another starter while trying to fill the holes that remain in the bullpen from Zach Britton and David Robertson.
With the Winter Meetings this week, those holes could be filled quickly by them or by other names like Adam Ottavino or Andrew Miller who have been linked to the Yankees this winter.
Feb. 13 will also be the first time fans get to see newly acquired James Paxton in a Yankee uniform in 2019, even if it isn’t the full pinstripes. Paxton is expected to play an integral part in the Yankees rotation this season behind Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka.
Speaking of Severino, this is a big spring for him to put behind the demons that followed him in the second half of 2018 and in Game 3 of the ALDS against Boston. Rumors had it that Severino was tipping his pitches in that series so now the team will get to see the adjustments the 24-year-old was able to make in the winter.
It is not all about the pitchers come Feb. 13, catchers will also be reporting on that date and that means the beginning of Gary Sanchez’s comeback season. Sanchez disappointed in 2018 after bursting onto the scene in 2016 and 2017. This is an important spring for him to go out and prove that last year was simply just a fluke.
Now 68 days come between now and when pitchers and catchers report but, just the thought of players being on a baseball field brings all kinds of excitement.
