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MOOSIC — Tyler Austin’s getting another shot in the bigs.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders first baseman learned of the news late Wednesday night and made his way to Queens to rejoin the New York Yankees in time for their series finale against the New York Mets.
“For a guy that had worked so hard to get healthy and be on the field most of the time, yeah it’s definitely nice to see,” RailRiders manager Al Pedrique said of Austin’s promotion. “He’s been working real hard to stay healthy and then work real hard on his defense at first base. He’s so much better at first base. He started swinging the bat well, hitting the ball to the other way with authority. We’re hoping he gets a shot up in New York and helps the team get some wins.”
Austin’s season has been filled with promise, but has gone off the rails twice due to injuries.
The 25-year-old fractured his left ankle just days before the start of spring training. Then, once Austin was healthy and back with the Yankees — joining the team on June 24 — he suffered a right hamstring bruise and was back on the disabled list just five days later.
Since then, the Yankees acquired Chicago White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier via trade, forcing incumbent third baseman Chase Headley to move over to first base. But with first baseman Garrett Cooper landing on the DL with left hamstring tendinitis Thursday the door has been opened for Austin to rejoin the team.
“You know the kid gets frustrated, especially with the talent that he has,” Pedrique said. “I’ve seen players where they have a lot of talent, but for some reason they’e fragile, they can’t stay heathy, and it’s part of the game. But at least he’s been working hard for the last three years as we saw last year, we saw the year before in Double-A, and this kid can do a lot of good things on the field.”
With Austin and his .292 batting average, seven home runs and 27 RBI gone, Miguel Andujar will slide into the cleanup spot of the batting order.
However, with talented bats around him, Pedrique isn’t too worried about Andujar adjusting to batting fourth. He’ll bat cleanup for the 11th time Thursday night, but will have Jake Cave, Donovan Solano, Greg Bird and Ji-Man Choi rounding out the top five.
“For me, the fourth hitter doesn’t have to hit a home run every time as long as he comes through with runners in scoring position,” Pedrique said. “I know he can do both — hit for power, he can hit for average. I just want him to be himself and not try to do too much.”
Austin got the start at first base and hit seventh for the Yankees Thursday night.
“For myself, it’s nice to see a guy coming back and get a chance to probably rebuild his career and hopefully he’ll stay in the bigs for a long time,” Pedrique said.