Yankees call up outfielder Franchy Cordero

With Jake Bauers headed to the IL after injuring his shoulder in Wednesday night’s loss to the Orioles, the Yankees once again found themselves in need of an outfielder. Ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Cubs, New York recalled Franchy Cordero from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees also transferred Nestor Cortes to the 60-day IL to clear room on the 40-man roster for Carlos Rodón.

Cordero got plenty of run with the big league club back in April, starting off hot by hitting four homers in his first seven games. The 28-year-old cratered from there, and is hitless in his last 22 major league at-bats. Overall, he’s hit .148/.179/.389 with the Yankees in 2023.

To his credit, Cordero has raked in Scranton this year, posting a .345/.462/.621 line with nine homers in 143 plate appearances. Yet this is a familiar song from the toolsy but inconsistent outfielder; Cordero has run an OPS greater than .900 in each of his last three minor league campaigns, but has never been able to make it stick in the bigs.

Many will wonder why Estevan Florial isn’t getting the call here, what with the 25-year-old also running an OPS greater than 1.000 in the minors, seemingly with more upside than Cordero. The likeliest reason is that Florial is out of options, which essentially means that once one of Bauers, Willie Calhoun or Aaron Judge is ready to return from the IL, the Yankees cannot send Florial back to the minors. In any event, the team is again in a sticky spot, with three outfield spots to fill and really one player (Harrison Bader) who they can confidently pencil into those spots every night. Trying times indeed.