TAMPA — At the start of last spring, Ron Marinaccio was hardly a household name among Yankees fans.
By the end of the year, though, the rookie reliever was sorely missed when he was forced to sit out the Yankees’ playoff run because of a stress reaction in his shin, despite trying to make himself ready.
“I was definitely dealing with as much of the shin pain as I had throughout the season,” Marinaccio said Thursday. “But I was probably a similar version of myself minus 2 miles an hour.”
Now, after an offseason spent giving his right shin enough time to heal, Marinaccio hopes to provide the full version of himself again, the one that emerged unexpectedly last year with a 2.05 ERA across 44 innings.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Marinaccio said ahead of the first full workout for pitchers and catchers at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “Working through some stuff of loading it back up, kind of just getting the strength back overall.”
The Toms River native took about a month and a half off of lifting and lower-body work, plus an extra two weeks off of throwing to give his shin the proper rest. Then he started building back up again on a schedule that will have him throwing his sixth bullpen session on Friday, with his sights set on being ready to break camp with the Yankees — a goal that Aaron Boone said was realistic if he continues to move in the right direction.
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Marinaccio could serve as a valuable arm out of the bullpen, especially for one that might only have one lefty in Wandy Peralta. In addition to strong splits against righties, Marinaccio was even better last season against left-handed bats, who slashed .146/.247/.232 against him.
Ron Guidry was in the bullpen and on the backfields Thursday as a guest instructor for the first time since 2020 — with the following two springs altered by COVID restrictions and the lockout. He spent time talking with Gerrit Cole, who broke his franchise single-season strikeout record last September.
“Just exchanged cordials and talked a bit about how cool that was for both of us, that night in Texas,” Cole said, referring to the phone call the two had the night he broke the record.
Nestor Cortes (hamstring) could throw off the mound as early as this weekend, according to Boone, but nothing had been scheduled yet.
Boone paid tribute to Tim McCarver, who died Thursday at the age of 81, after first getting to know him when McCarver and Bob Boone, Aaron’s dad, were both catchers on the Phillies from 1975-1980.
“Timmy was such a charismatic guy,” Boone said. “Not only did he put together a great career … but then becoming the broadcaster that when I was jumping into the business, he was who you looked to as how it’s done.”
