Yankees’ Aaron Boone calls Franchy Cordero’s hitting success ‘really fun to watch’

New York Yankees left fielder Franchy Cordero (33) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Seemingly every year, a different player for the Yankees comes out of nowhere and catches fire at the plate, hitting home runs at a prolific rate to help the Bronx Bombers win ball games.

Last year it was Matt Carpenter. A few years before that it was Luke Voit. This year it’s Franchy Cordero, whose latest achievement is hitting a game-tying home run in the seventh inning of New York’s 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday afternoon.

“Any time a player has a lot of talent, these things can happen and baseball probably more so than any other sport, I feel like you never know when that can happen…” said manager Aaron Boone. “The one thing about Franchy is he’s got a lot of ability and it’s been really fun to watch him have a level of success here over the last ten days and really get some big hits for us.”

Prior to signing Cordero on March 30, one day before Opening Day, the 28-year-old outfielder spent six seasons between the San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox, never quite finding consistent success.

Now, two weeks into the 2023 season, Cordero is tied with Aaron Judge for the team lead in home runs (four) and leads the team in RBI (11). He’s also the first player in Yankees history to have 11 or more RBI in his first seven games with the team.

“He’s fit in very well,” Boone said. “I think the guys have embraced him, and him them.”

This level of production doesn’t come as a complete shock, though, considering Cordero hit the cover off the ball during spring training with the Baltimore Orioles. In 46 at-bats, the Dominican Republic native slashed .413/.426/.674 with two home runs, four doubles, a triple and nine RBI before the Orioles released him.

Still, after equally impressive springs in 2018 with the Padres and 2021, 2022 with the Red Sox, Cordero was unable to match that level of production during the regular season.

So how do the Yankees continually find players like Cordero or Carpenter last year at just the right time and get the best out of them?

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“I don’t think there’s any formula for that..” Boone said. “When you’re acquiring people, on different levels, sometimes you’re picking up guys on a waiver claim, other times you’re signing a big free agent, you try and do as much make-up homework and things like that to try and make the best decision in regards to that, but in the end it’s a little inexact.”

Over the course of his career, Cordero has typically been a high-strikeout, low-average type of player who doesn’t get on base at a very high clip, but who does have some pop. In a career-high 84 games with Boston last season, he hit a career-high eight home runs.

In seven games with the Yankees, he’s already halfway to matching that – albeit in a small sample size – has hit for a higher average and has cut down his strikeout rate.

“I think he’s developed a really good rapport with our hitting coach so far so I think there’s been that, that’s been helpful,” Boone said. “But yeah I think there’s been better swing decisions, absolutely. Again, when you’re a young man and you have his talent these things are possible.”

The question with Cordero now is whether or not he can sustain his production at the plate. Batting seventh and playing left field Thursday, he’ll get every chance to prove that he can. He’s earned that right.

“When you have talent like that, yeah,” Boone said about Cordero’s sustainability. “The light goes on at different times in people’s career so you certainly never know, and again it is a small sample, but the talent is real so sure it’s possible.”