Tulo strains calf, placed on injured list
NEW YORK -- Troy Tulowitzki left Wednesday's 2-1 loss to the Tigers after the bottom of the third inning and was diagnosed with a low-grade left calf strain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Aaron Boone said that Tulowitzki will "almost certainly [end up on the injured list], but I haven't talked through it all yet." On Thursday morning, the Yankees placed Tulowitzki on the injured list and recalled infielder Thairo Estrada from Triple-A.
Tulowitzki came off the field after the third inning and alerted Tyler Wade that he'd have to go into the game. Wade entered the game at second base and Gleyber Torres shifted to shortstop. If Tulowitzki does miss time, Torres is likely the leading candidate to play the position in his absence.
Opening Day was Tulowitzki's first Major League game since July 28, 2017. He was placed on the injured list on July 29, 2017, with a sprained right ankle and ended up having surgery on both heels in March 2018 that kept him out for the entire 2018 season as well.
Tulowitzki has played 150 or more games in a season just twice in his career, in 2007 and '09.
The Yankees will call up infielder Thairo Estrada, the club's 19th-ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline, to replace Tulowitzki on the active roster, a source tells MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. The club has not officially announced the callup. Estrada, 23, suffered a gunshot wound in January 2018 and dealt with other injury setbacks during his recovery throughout the year. He played in 37 games in 2018 -- 18 across two levels of the Minors and 19 in the Arizona Fall League.
"He's a guy that we feel like is going to be a good player and has made a lot of strides and really looked good in the spring," Boone said of Estrada.
It isn't just injuries in the infield for the Yankees, who already have Miguel Andujar, Dellin Betances, Miguel Andújar, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, CC Sabathia, Luis Severino and Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list. Tulowitzki himself had been playing shortstop primarily because Gregorius is still recovering from Tommy John surgery.
"We've hit a little bit of adversity here with some of the injuries we're dealing with," Boone said, "but I'll hang my hat on our group and know that we'll fight our way through this."
Aaron Judge echoed similar resilience.
"Any adversity like this, only makes a team stronger. … This is getting a lot of guys some valuable playing time," said Judge.
Brett Gardner, the longest-tenured Yankees player, also focused on the opportunities this could afford to other players in the organization.
"It's been quite a few guys, but it's all things that are unrelated and nothing you can really put your finger on," said Gardner. "Obviously we've got a lot of young guys who have been up here the last few years, and now some other young guys are getting opportunities that maybe it didn't look like they were going to be getting at the end of Spring Training. We've just got to do our best to piece things together and take things one day at a time."