Former Red Sox postseason hero not on Yankees’ ALCS roster

Andrew Benintendi left off Yankees’ ALCS roster

If the New York Yankees acquired Andrew Benintendi at the trade deadline in hopes that he might repeat postseason history, they’re going to have to find a new way to beat the Houston Astros in the ALCS.

After manager Aaron Boone told Yankees reporter Justin Shackil that he didn’t anticipate the former Boston Red Sox star being on the league championship roster at all, the club confirmed as much when they announced said roster on Wednesday morning.

Benintendi’s previous postseason heroics had to have factored into the Yankees’ decision to acquire him from the Kansas City Royals at the deadline. His diving catch at Minute Maid Park to bail Craig Kimbrel out of a jam in Game 4 of the 2018 ALCS became instantly iconic.

Between 2016-18, Benintendi appeared in 21 postseason games for the Sox and collected 22 hits, including five doubles and a pair of home runs. He scored 18 times, drove in nine, drew five walks, and stole two bases. Nine of those games were played against the Astros between the 2017 ALDS and 2018 ALCS, and he collected nine hits over the two series, including a home run and two doubles.

Knowing that they’d likely be facing the Astros, adding Benintendi made a lot of sense. But he only played 33 regular-season games for the Yankees before sustaining a hamate fracture in his wrist that required surgery in early September. He wasn’t on the ALDS roster, but the team was hopeful that he could rejoin them for the ALCS as he’d been hitting off a high-velocity pitching machine last week. Instead, Bryan Hoch reported on Monday – coincidentally, the anniversary of Benintendi’s catch – that the outfielder was still experiencing wrist pain and received an injection this week.

With Benintendi still on the sidelines, the only former Sox players to keep an eye on this October are Christian Vázquez and Kyle Schwarber.

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