Aaron Hicks back with team after birth of his son

KANSAS CITY —  Aaron Hicks was back with the team and in the lineup Friday night, after a whirlwind trip home for the birth of his son. The centerfielder and his wife Cheyenne Woods welcomed a son, Cameron, on Tuesday morning.

“She’s doing very well. Yeah, her  and Cameron are doing well. She is just recovering now. Just at home,” Hicks said. “You know, we’ve got a lot of family there in Arizona. So that’s why we chose to have her give birth there.”

Hicks was hitting sixth Friday night for the series opener against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

“It’s definitely nice getting  him back, happy for him that everything’s going well with the family,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I mean, he’s obviously off to a pretty good start for us. And that switch-hitting presence that he creates is definitely nice. So good to have him back.”

Hicks is off to a good start after missing time with injuries the last few years. Hicks is slashing .273/.377/.341 with a .718 OPS.

Cameron Hicks weighed eight pounds and was 20 inches long, his father said.

STILL WAITING

Miguel Andujar got called up on Monday when Hicks went on paternity leave, but has yet to get into a game. Boone said it’s a good problem to have, but he just can’t find a spot for Andujar.

“I almost played him today.  I want to get him in there. I think he’s in the best place. He’s been in a couple of years. So I don’t like not having him in there, but obviously, it’s a little bit of a challenge right now,” Boone said.

The Yankees optioned Ron Marinaccio Triple-AAA to make room on the roster to bring back Hicks after the right hander pitched in Thursday’s win over the Orioles. That meant he would not be available Friday, so the Yankees decided to keep Andujar as an extra position player.  But the Yankees will have to make two more cuts before Monday, when the rosters go from 28 players, an accommodation for the lockout-shortened spring training, to the normal  26.

In 13 games in Triple-A this season, Andujar has slashed .347/.396/.551 with three homers and six RBI. He has played left field and third base.

The Dominican native had a huge offensive season as a rookie in 2018, batting .297/.328/.527 with an .855 OPS  with 47 doubles, 27 homers and 92 RBI. He finished as a runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in the Rookie of the Year voting.

And then he injured his shoulder, the Yankees brought up Gio Urshela to be their everyday third baseman and Andujar was left looking for a spot.

That clearly affected his offense.

Since that breakout rookie season, Andujar has hit .228 with seven homers and 18 RBI in 78 games from 2019 to last season.

Boone said he weighed getting Andujar some at-bats, but needed to get others some too.

“Wanting to get other guys into which I feel like is a good problem to have right now that we have really good options every day,” Boone said when asked what stopped him from playing Andujar.

Joey Gallo and Josh Donaldson were out of the lineup Friday for a rest day and Aaron Judge was the designated hitter. Boone had Tim Locastro starting in left and Giancarlo Stanton in right.

CLEANING UP

Boone laughed off the viral video showing Gerrit Cole in his last start with a dark patch on his right backside, which some were insinuating was evidence that he was using sticky stuff.

“It’s Gerrit Cole, it’s the Yankees. It’s much much ado about nothing,” Boone said. “You get dirty. Guys have ticks, touch themselves.”

Cole, who is scheduled to start Saturday against the Royals, had his hands checked by umpires for illegal sticky stuff during the start and nothing was found.