New York Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira was visibly annoyed during a batting practice session in Tampa on Wednesday. Teixeira, who is working his way back from a wrist injury, had to cut short his BP session because the Yankees didn’t have enough pitchers to work with him.
"That's it?" an agitated Teixeira said after pitching coach Larry Rothschild called out that reliever David Herndon had thrown his maximum number of batting practice tosses. "I thought I was going to get a lot more work the last few days, but I just do what I am told."
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Since he is scheduled to play in his first exhibition game Thursday, Teixeira thought he would be taking live batting practice Monday and Tuesday. He took limited live BP on Monday, but on Tuesday the Yankees, with 34 pitchers in camp, had no one to throw to him.
"Believe it or not, we don't have someone," Manager Joe Girardi said Tuesday. "I'm extremely disappointed because we didn't have one. I told Larry I didn't know if I could go on with my day. Confused."
Teixeira is earning $22.5 million dollars in 2014 and has only taken 11 swings in two days. He made contact with three balls on Wednesday, none of them leaving the infield. Teixeira said he should still be ready for his spring debut on Thursday.
The switch-hitting Teixeira admitted that batting lefty is his main concern since his surgically-repaired right wrist is the bottom hand from that side. He’s a historically slow starter and expectations are high for Teixeira, who needs to bounce back with a strong season to help the Yankees compensate for losing Robinson Cano via free agency.
Later in the morning, Teixeira took regular batting practice with Willie Randolph throwing. Live batting practice is against active MLB pitchers, while “regular” BP is when coaches or guest instructors throw.
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