Andrew Benintendi stays mum on future with Yankees

ANAHEIM, Calif. — For a crew that was on a historic win tempo for a lot of the primary half of the season and entered Wednesday with a seven-game lead within the AL East, the Yankees have fairly a little bit of uncertainty of their outfield — each for the stretch run and looking forward to subsequent yr.

Aaron Decide could be a free agent. Aaron Hicks nonetheless has three years and $30 million left on his contract however has grow to be a little-used bench participant. Giancarlo Stanton’s persistent leg points forestall him from being an everyday presence within the outfield.

Additionally they have Harrison Bader, the return from St. Louis for Jordan Montgomery, a defensive specialist who hasn’t even performed in any rehab video games as he comes again from plantar fasciitis.

Then there’s Andrew Benintendi, acquired from Kansas Metropolis earlier than the commerce deadline to supply some much-needed consistency and steadiness to the offense from the left facet.

Benintendi can be set to be a free agent after this season and stated this week hasn’t given a lot thought to his plans for subsequent yr.

“In no way,’’ Benintendi stated earlier than going 0-for-4 within the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Angels. “I’ll fear about that after the season is over. There’s solely a month or so left and I wish to hold the main target right here.”

Although the Yankees scored greater than 4 runs simply twice of their earlier 9 video games heading into Wednesday’s sequence finale, Benintendi has given them what they’d hoped for over that stretch, going 13-for-36, with two doubles, two homers, seven RBIs, simply 4 strikeouts and an OPS of .968.

That got here after his first 22 video games with the Yankees, when the 28-year-old hit simply .192 (14-for-73), with no homers, 5 RBIs and 19 strikeouts with an OPS of simply .604.

Benintendi stated not a lot has modified to trigger the improved efficiency.

“I haven’t modified my strategy or made changes,” Benintendi stated. “I simply do what’s labored earlier than.”

Throughout his first weeks as a Yankee, one a part of his sport advised him he wasn’t proper on the plate.

“I used to be hanging out and fouling off pitches that I ought to have been hitting, so I knew I used to be off,’’ Benintendi stated. “That’s not my sport. Once I strike out, I do know I’m not going good.”