After leaving the World Baseball Classic with what was being called a hematoma in the subscapularis muscle in his right shoulder, we now have a clearer diagnosis on Didi Gregorius‘ injury.
According to Bryan Hoch of Yankees.com, the 27-year-old shortstop has a shoulder strain and will miss Opening Day. Manager Joe Girardi  noted that Gregorius first hurt the shoulder while turning a double play as a second baseman, which is obviously not his primary position.
Gregorius won’t participate in any baseball related activities for two weeks, and will then start a throwing program. Girardi even said that Didi could miss the entire month of April, and Brian Cashman backed that up by saying the timetable could be six weeks.
Didi Gregorius has a strain, no baseball activity for two weeks, will not be ready for Opening Day.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) March 21, 2017
All things considered, this is decent news for the Yankees who were no doubt holding their breath as they awaited Didi’s test results. The organization is pretty deep at the shortstop position, so there’s no need for Cashman to go looking on the scrap heap for a replacement.
While Hoch tweeted earlier that the Yankees will have Starlin Castro play some shortstop before camp is over in order to familiarize himself with the position again (he played SS for five-and-a-half  years with the Cubs), Girardi said he’s not sure yet who will be the team’s shortstop on Opening Day. Girardi did, however, eliminate top prospect Gleyber Torres — much to the dismay of Yankees fans. Other candidates for the starting gig will include Tyler Wade, Ronald Torreyes, Ruben Tejada and maybe Pete Kozma.
The shortstop competition gets underway tonight as the Yankees welcome in Chris Sale and the Boston Red Sox. Torreyes is slated to start at short, with Tejada manning second.
