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MOOSIC — Aaron Hicks and Tyler Austin found themselves in the starting lineup again, and for the second straight game, together with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Friday night.
But if you asked either if them, they’d both rather be in the starting lineup for the New York Yankees in Cleveland instead of on rehab and facing the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
Both Hicks and Austin have been on the disabled list since late June, and both had starting jobs at the time. However, things have changed with the Yankees. Clint Frazier is starring in the outfield, with Jacoby Ellsbury relegated to the bench, and Chase Headley now at first base.
Now it’s Austin and Hicks’ turn to get their jobs back.
“It sucks. You’re not doing anything and you’re just hanging out,” Hicks said of the layoff. “You want to be with your team. You want to contribute and you can’t do it when you’re on the bench.
“No idea (what my role is). I just know that I’m going get prepared the best I can and get ready to play.”
Austin’s 2017 campaign has been full of obstacles.
After fracturing his left ankle just days before the start of spring training, Austin found himself on the 60-day disabled list and didn’t see his first game action until the middle of May. He finally worked his way into the Yankees lineup on June 24, but even that was brief before he landed back on the DL, this time with a right hamstring bruise, something that he was playing through while he was with the RailRiders.
“Terrible. I mean, you never want something like that to happen, especially in my fourth game there,” Austin said. “It’s been a frustrating year, but hopefully we can finish strong.
“I feel good. Body feels good, hamstring feels ready to go, so it’s just about getting at-bats now.”
Like Austin, Hicks also hadn’t seen live pitching the last six weeks either. He had been out with a right oblique injury.
Collecting hits in each of his first two rehab games, including a double Thursday night, Hicks has been happy with his start to his rehab assignment. He even stole a base on Thursday.
“As of right now my swing feels pretty good as far as taking (batting practice) and doing stuff like that,” Hicks said. “I think the two pitches that I’ve hit weren’t the best-hit balls, but I feel like I’ve been putting some pretty good swings on the ones that I’ve been putting in play and it’s the best I can hope for right now.
“My body felt real fine. Most of the time those back-to-back days are kind of rough, but for me it was good.”
For now, both Hicks and Austin are just preparing themselves for the future, on where ever that may be.
Hicks said he’s not sure what the plan is for his rehab moving forward. Austin will go with the RailRiders when they travel to Gwinnett after Sunday’s game against Pawtucket.
“I’m going to go out and control what I can and that’s playing as hard as I can every day and try to help out whatever team I’m a part of win, and that’s my mind-set going in every day,” Austin said.
“I just want to play solid baseball, get my swing right and do my best to get as sharp as I can before I get called up,” Hicks added.