Yankees' Isiah Kiner-Falefa Taking Outfield Reps as Shortstop Competition Becoming Clearer

The Yankees' shortstop competition could be starting to come to fruition.

One of the players in the mix, last year's starter, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, is beginning to take reps in the outfield.

This could mean the Yankees plan on utilizing Kiner-Falefa in a super utility role, as opposed to starting him at shortstop.

It also points to the possibility that top prospect Oswald Peraza will win the job, which was reported by ESPN's Buster Olney last week.

“Spending two days with the Yankees over the weekend on Friday and Saturday," Olney said on the "Baseball Tonight" podcast, "I walked away basically having heard that Peraza is going to be the shortstop – unless something completely unforeseen happens – with IKF potentially being on the bench at the start of the year. Maybe some team steps up and makes a trade for (Kiner-Falefa), and Volpe probably will start in the minor leagues.”

As Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Tuesday, Kiner-Falefa is working with former Yankee Nick Swisher to learn and get comfortable in the outfield. Boone also said he believes Kiner-Falefa could be "a natural" in the outfield.

Kiner-Falefa has never played a major league game in the outfield. He did, however, play 10 games in the outfield in the minor leagues, with his last appearance coming in center field in 2017.

With Harrison Bader out several weeks with an oblique strain, Kiner-Falefa could join the center field mix if he gets comfortable out there.

The Yankees acquired Kiner-Falefa from the Minnesota Twins last year. He went on to start 131 games at short, slashing .261/.314/.327 (84 OPS+) with four home runs and 22 stolen bases in 2022.

As Kiner-Falefa becomes accustomed to the outfield, it appears as though Peraza is the favorite to win the shortstop job in camp.

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