Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson injured his right calf during Saturday night's win in Denver.AP
DENVER — There probably won’t be many Yankees fans upset with the injury news coming out from the manager’s office after Saturday night’s 6-3 win over the Rockies.
Josh Donaldson is hurt again.
This time, it’s the third baseman’s right calf, and on Sunday morning it led to another injury list stint for a chronically slumping veteran who was shelved for 51 games earlier this season with a right hamstring strain.
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The Yankees’ designated hitter in Saturday’s game, Donaldson noticeably limped running out a seventh-inning groundball to shortstop in his last at-bat.
Here’s Aaron Boone’s short but telling response to Donaldson’s calf issue:
“Not great.”
It’s not right for fans to feel good about any player being injured, of course, especially someone on your team, but Donaldson has become the new Joey Gallo at Yankee Stadium.
Donaldson earned the constant boos. He has hit 10 homers in 106 plate appearances over 34 games, but is batting a measly .142 because he has only five other hits, four singles and a double.
That’s not what fans expect from a former MVP who is making $21 million this season, his last in a four-year, $92-million contact.
Donaldson, 37, got on the bad side of Yankees’ fans in 2022 when he had a poor first season with the club. He also received a lot of bad press last summer for instigating an incident with White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson that got him suspended by MLB for a game, plus he joined the Yankees having labeled ace Gerrit Cole as the face of MLB pitchers who doctor baseballs.
This season, Donaldson played in five of the Yankees’ first six games before ending up on the IL on April 6 and not returning until June 2. He hit two homers his first game back in a loss to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, but other than a few solo homers here and there since, he’s had very little success at the plate.
This weekend, Donaldson is hitless in seven at-bats over two games at Coors Field, leaving him 4-for-29 in nine July games.
Donaldson only has been used as DH in his four games since July 8 because he was dealing with an issue that the Yankees wouldn’t reveal. Taking a page out of hockey, Boone called it a “lower body” issue.
Before Saturday’s game, Boone declared Donaldson ready to play third base again.
After, Boone admitted that Donaldson’s issue has been calf soreness all along, but he says the latest discomfort is in “a different spot. Boone added that Donaldson has been dealing with calf discomfort “off and on all year.”
Donaldson will find out how bad his injury is on Sunday when he gets an MRI, but regardless he’s missing time.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Donaldson’s injury occurs just as utility infielder DJ LeMahieu finally is heating up. A .220 hitter at the All-Star break, the two-time batting champ returned to go 2-for-4 in Friday’s loss and then 3-for-4 in Saturday’s victory.
With Donaldson on the IL, shortstop Oswald Peraza was recalled from Triple-A for the second time this season. The 23-year-old Venezuelan hit .188 with three RBI in 12 games when he was with the Yankees from April 16 to May 8.
In Triple-A, Peraza is hitting .261 with 12 homers and 28 RBI in 48 games. He hit nine homers in 11 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre from May 19 to June 1, but has been slumping lately with three hits in 27 at-bats over his last seven games.