TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees’ travel roster for Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener in Lakeland against the Tigers won’t get fans excited.
In an exhibition that Luis Gil was picked to be the Yankees’ starting pitcher, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Anthony Rizzo won’t be there.
There also will be no DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton or Gleyber Torres.
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Anthony Volpe was the only regular scheduled for the bus trip. The second-year shortstop’s possible future double-play partner will be aboard, too, and second baseman prospect Jorbit Vivas is in the lineup and batting eighth.
If Torres signs with someone else next winter when he becomes a free agent, which seems more likely to occur than not, and if the Yankees don’t trade or sign for a long-term second base replacement right away, which is possible, then Vivas could contend for a starting job in 2025 or 2026 along with, perhaps, Oswald Peraza.
Traded by the Dodgers in December, Vivas immediately was slotted in as the Yankees’ 10th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline after being ranked the Dodgers’ 15th best.
Vivas has elite left-handed bat-to-ball skills. He showed that last season playing Double-A and Triple-A, and he showed it Friday in live batting practice at-bats against two pitching prospects who came over from the minor-league camp for the day, 2022 third-round draft pick/righty Trystan Vrieling and 2023 third-rounder/lefty Kyle Carr.
“He can hit a fastball,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he looked good. It was my first time seeing him in live BP.”
Vivas, who turns 22 on March 9, was part of the 2-for-1 deal with LA that also brought in veteran lefty reliever Victor Gonzalez in exchange for Double-A shortstop Trey Sweeney, the Yankees’ first-round pick in 2021.
“A lot went into trying to get the right guy in that trade that we made, and it fell on Jorvit because of that bat to ball that he has,” Boone said. “I feel like he can…
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