TAMPA — Aaron Boone’s face said it all.
Asked what has stood out to him about Nick Burdi’s first few live batting practice sessions, Boone was silent for a few seconds while shaking his head and flashing an incredulous look.
“You talk about stuff — that’s great stuff,” Boone said Friday afternoon.
The 31-year-old right-hander has impressed in his first two live sessions of camp, including Friday when he struck out the likes of DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Volpe and Giancarlo Stanton.
Burdi was flashing a 98-100 mph fastball from a lower arm slot to go with a slider and changeup.
The biggest hurdle for Burdi will be staying healthy — he has battled injuries throughout his career, including two Tommy John surgeries and surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome — but if he can do that, the Yankees may have an early candidate for their next bullpen gem in the non-roster invitee.
“Been really good early in camp,” Boone said. “Stuff’s as good as it gets.”
The Yankees aren’t giving up on Oswaldo Cabrera as a switch-hitter, but there will be a twist to that approach this season.
Boone said the team will sit down with Cabrera before every series to determine which left-handers they are OK with him hitting left-handed against and which lefties they want him to move to the right side for.
“We’ll be selective about it,” Boone said.
After Cabrera hit left-handed against a left-handed pitcher late last season, because he had recently been feeling better about his at-bats from that side, he took all of his at-bats in the Venezuelan winter league as a left-handed hitter.
“Just a stronger hitter left-handed,” Boone said. “I think him focusing on that more and wanting to commit more to that side is something he wanted. So we got together and met him halfway on this, because we do feel like he can hold his own enough right-handed and there are certain left-on-left matchups that we wouldn’t necessarily want. … We’ll obviously adjust if we have to on the fly.”
Jasson Dominguez, recovering from Tommy John surgery, is scheduled to begin swinging a bat on Monday, according to Boone.
The switch-hitting outfielder will start his progression from the right side before mixing in left-handed swings in a few weeks.
“I’m sure it’s a pretty slow progression,” Boone said.
After Friday’s workout, the Yankees had a pingpong tournament and barbecue for team bonding ahead of games starting on Saturday.