Yankees ecstatic about Florial's potential

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Faces beam when Estevan Florial's name is mentioned around the Yankees' talent evaluators, and as the 20-year-old phenom settles into his first Major League Spring Training, manager Aaron Boone said that it is already apparent why the center fielder is held in high regard.
Ranked as the Yankees' No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline and the No. 44 prospect in all of baseball, Florial ripped a stand-up sixth-inning triple to right-center field in Saturday's 4-1 Grapefruit League victory over the Pirates at LECOM Park.
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"He's one of those guys that I'm really excited to see these first couple of weeks, because he's going to get some opportunities to play," Boone said. "He's going to log some at-bats. We just want to get him as comfortable as possible. When we see him do that, even though that [triple] was the first one, it's not a surprise to us. The talent is real."
Florial hit .298/.372/.479 with 23 doubles, 13 homers and 57 RBIs in 110 games for Class A Charleston and Class A Advanced Tampa last year, and he wants to cut down on his strikeouts after fanning 148 times in 420 at-bats. He is expected to begin the season in the Florida State League.
Boone said that Florial's spring experience alongside established big leaguers should prove beneficial.
"There's just kind of a calm, a grace to the way he plays the game," Boone said. "There's no panic, really. Then you watch him ... he looks the part. He's someone me and the coaches get excited, like, 'Oh, Flo is going in.' You just get excited to see what he can do."
Gift of grab
Clint Frazier wowed the crowd with a leaping grab in left field that ended the second inning on Saturday, fighting the wind to rob Ryan Lavarnway of an extra-base hit. Frazier tumbled to the warning track and said that he banged his head into a chain-link fence covering the scoreboard.
"I've just got to make it look a little bit easier from here on out," Frazier said. "That way, I can have people trust in me whenever the ball is hit to me."

Frazier hit the ball hard in both at-bats Saturday, lining out to left field in the first inning and singling up the middle in the fourth before being picked off. Frazier said that he made adjustments to remove a hitch and limit the movement of his swing over the offseason.
"This is the best I've felt, as far as kind of being aware of what my body is doing and how it is supposed to do it," Frazier said. "In the past, I just tried to muscle everything. I created a lot of moving parts to hit the ball harder. I struck out a lot and I fouled off a lot of balls last year. I needed something to change."
Bumper stickers
Hitting coaches Marcus Thames and P.J. Pilittere have been repeating several key catchphrases to players early in camp, one of which concerns urging aggressiveness in the strike zone while laying off borderline pitches. Last season, the Yankees led the Majors in homers (241) and paced the American League in walks (616) while ranking 12th in the Majors in strikeouts (1,386).
"I want us to be obsessed with controlling the strike zone. That's one of our bumper stickers, if you will," Boone said. "And I know Marcus and P.J. are really driving that message home with our guys. We want to be great at that, because we feel like if we do that with our slug potential when you're controlling the strike zone, that's a dangerous combination."
Boone was asked what some of his other "bumper stickers" have been.
"I've got a lot. I'll unveil them as we go," Boone said. "You'll hear me repeat myself a little bit."
Bombers bits
• After singling in his first at-bat during his Yankees debut, Brandon Drury was plunked in the left hand by a pitch in the third inning. Drury remained in the game and said that he had treatment, but X-rays were not necessary.

• Billy McKinney cracked a go-ahead three-run homer in the ninth inning. McKinney also played five innings at first base as he looks to provide depth behind Greg Bird and Tyler Austin.
• Infielder Thairo Estrada has resumed training on an elliptical machine as he recovers from a gunshot wound to his right thigh, sustained during a late January robbery attempt in Venezuela. Estrada is unlikely to be ready to begin the Minor League season.
• Right-hander Albert Abreu is recovering well from appendix surgery performed on March 7, Boone said. Rated as the Yankees' No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Abreu has been playing catch at the Yankees' complex.
Up next
The Yankees are on the road Sunday, visiting the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla., at 1:05 p.m. ET, and the game can be seen on MLB.TV and MLB Network. Left-hander Jordan Montgomery will start for New York opposite right-hander Aaron Nola for Philadelphia. The Yankees' lineup is scheduled to include Bird, Gleyber Torres, Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Hicks.