NEW YORK — Yankees manager Aaron Boone was the bearer of bad news after Saturday night’s comeback win over the Mets. Reserve infielder Andrew Velazquez, a late-season Yankees sparkplug who made a lot of recent starts while Gleyber Torres was on the injured list, was optioned to Triple-A.
Boone felt terrible telling Velazquez of his demotion back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Bronx native had become a fan and clubhouse favorite during his first opportunity to play for the Yankees, which lasted a month.
“It sucked,” Boone said in his Sunday pre-game presser. “Obviously, he’s come up here and had been a spark for us. He played really well.”
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The Yankees made the roster move to free up a spot for pitcher Clarke Schmidt, who was recalled from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to start Sunday night’s Subway Series rubber game at Citi Field.
Velazquez hit .234 with one homer, six RBI and four stolen bases in 26 games with the Yankees,
19 of them starts at shortstop. At short, he had three errors in 81 chances for a .963 fielding percentage that is much higher than Torres’ .954 (17 errors, 370 chances through Saturday).
“My message to him,” Boone said, “was making him very much aware of how much respect he’s gained (from Yankees players), but also from myself and the coaches. He’s been a big part of this and frankly I expect him to be a big part of it moving forward.”
By rule, Velazquez has to spend 10 days in the minors until he is recalled as an injury replacement. That would make him eligible to be called up on Sept. 22 and be on the club for the Yankees’ final 10 regular-season games.
“Hopefully we’re getting him back at some point,” Boone said. “Whether that’s in the 10 days, whether something else comes up that allows him to come back, you never know. But basically I was making it clear to him how important he’s been to this team and I hope moving forward as well, but it was difficult.”
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.
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