Around the Empire: Yankees news - 4/28/22

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees won their fifth game in a row last night, and the highlight was Giancarlo Stanton finally snapping his homerless skid with career jimmy jack No. 350. It might have taken him 14 full games since his last long ball, but he was still the seventh-fastest player in MLB history to reach that plateau, doing so in his 1,341st game. The only sluggers to do it even faster are all either current/future Hall of Famers (Babe Ruth, Harmon Killebrew, Albert Pujols), Hall of Fame talents with PED connections (Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez), and, well, Juan Gonzalez. That’s quite the dinner party, though. Let’s hope that in this metaphor, Stanton is chatting up the Killebrews for advice on longevity more than the Juan Gones.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: Yankees GM Brian Cashman feels that Triple-A Scranton Oswald Peraza is already just about prepared to man shortstop at the MLB level. However, the prospect knows that he’s not quite there with the bat just yet, and he’s had a sluggish start this April. Nonetheless, the team is impressed by his work ethic and thinks that he’s still just getting used to playing baseball in the cold, which he hasn’t had to do much in his life (remember that the minor league season didn’t start until May last year). The Scranton staff thinks that the hitting will come, and Peraza is determined to prove them right.

Yankees Magazine | Alfred Santasiere III: A new feature is out for the latest Yankees Mag, and it’s on one of my all-time favorite people to be associated with the team: Ken Singleton. Although he never wore the pinstripes, the New York native and former O’s division rival won fans’ hearts with his excellent work for both MSG and YES Network, calling games for the Yankees from 1997 until his retirement in 2021. Singleton reflected on his long career around the game, from his Queens debut and pennant-winning days in Baltimore to learning the ropes of the booth in Montreal and broadcasting some outstanding Yankees baseball. Kenny’s memories of 1998 are particularly amusing.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: We’ll round out the news this morning with a peak down in Scranton at old friend Greg Bird. He loves being back with the organization after bouncing around between a few different teams since he was cut in 2019. Manager Doug Davis thinks that Bird’s swing is coming along, but while his early Triple-A progress has been slow, the former Baby Bomber just seems glad to be feeling healthy and strong again for the first time in years. Even if Bird doesn’t make it back to the Bronx itself due to the first base depth, it’s good to hear that he’s doing OK.