NEW YORK -- Yankees manager Aaron Boone wanted a lefty to hit between righty sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the heart of the lineup. It's a popular move in baseball -- splitting hitters via handedness -- so that, the theory goes, opposing pitching bullpens have harder times matching up specialists in crucial situations later in games.
That duty was to fall to Greg Bird, who some team officials see as one of the best pure hitters in the organization and got the majority of reps there in spring training. Once again, however, he couldn't stay healthy, starting the season on the disabled list thanks to surgery to remove a right ankle bone spur.
So the Yankees abandoned the plan -- until recently. And it's paid off big-time.
Didi Gregorius, a lefty-hitting shortstop, has fit into the No. 3 hole perfectly since taking over for Stanton over the last five games. During the span, Gregorius has hit .300 with two homers -- including Monday's grand slam -- and eight RBI.
Looks like he'll stay there, too.
"I like it right now," Boone said before Tuesday's game against the Twins at Yankee Stadium.
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"I think it's a little more ideal if you have that right-left-right splitting them up the best you can. So I like how it looks right now. I like the feel of it. I think guys are starting to up and down more have those quality at-bats.
"But I don't know if it's so much lineup related or guys just starting to get on track a little bit. It definitely has a good feel to me right now. No question."
Of course, Gregorius had been hot before that. Through the first 16 games of the season, Gregorius hit .333 with five bombs and 16 RBI.
He mostly hit fourth (12 games) but also hit fifth (two games) and sixth (Opening Day).
With Gregorius hot, Stanton, who had been terrible most of the year, went 4-for-4 with a homer with Gregorius ahead of him Monday.
Bird isn't due back for a while. He hopes to head to the team's player development complex in Tampa on Friday and get several days of heavy work there before beginning a rehabilitation assignment sometime next week.
Boone hopes Gregorius' onslaught continues.
He said he believes Gregorius has gotten better since spring training and since Boone, in his first year as a manager, was an ESPN analyst.
"To see him come here and get better and better and better each and every year," Boone said, "and now I think he's taken another step this year. In a way, I'm not surprised, but yeah he's continued to get better and better (toward) being one of the better all-around players in our league."
Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.