Amed Rosario Proved Yankees Manager Aaron Boone Right

One word to describe Amed Rosario is "prepared." At least, that's the way it has been since the New York Yankees traded for him last summer. It doesn't matter the situation or how many games he has sat out. The righty is always ready to go.

If there's one person who understands that better than anybody, it's his manager. It's why Aaron Boone chose him over Ryan McMahon, who has gone in the opposite trajectory of Rosario since his trade to New York. McMahon is the starter, and typically, he would go up against righties like Aaron Civale. Still, in that first game against the Athletics, Boone went against his own conventional wisdom and put Rosario at third base.

The results were masterful. Maybe more than Boone could have even anticipated.

Rosario's Night

Despite not coming into a game in seven days, Rosario homered on the first pitch he saw off of Civale. The righty threw him a 90.9 MPH sinker on the inside corner of the plate that Rosario hit into the left field seats. The ball flew off his bat at 105.1 MPH.

The Yankees' bats went cold until the eighth inning after Rosario's homer. It didn't help that the budding ace, Cam Schlittler, also didn't have it. At least, by Schlittler's standards, he didn't have it. The hard thrower went five innings and allowed three earned runs. It was a rare blemish compared to the dominant streak he had been on since the end of last season. Schlittler struck out seven, though, and didn't allow a walk.

The Yankees finally got runners on in the eighth. After a Ben Rice single, which put runners on first and third, Giancarlo Stanton finally snapped the scoreless streak with a rocket single, driving in Cody Bellinger.

With runners on first and second, Rosario was up against old teammate Mark Leiter Jr. Leiter, who griped that the Yankees ruined him by putting him in low-leverage situations, had his chance to prove to his old team what they did wrong. He ended up being a blip in what would be remembered as the Amed Rosario game.