CLEVELAND — Derek Jeter’s road back to The Bronx has been long and slow, so Eduardo Nunez isn’t leaving shortstop anytime soon.
While the Yankees were worried about how the error-prone Nunez would hold up defensively, he has had more problems at the plate through the early part of the season.
Through 23 plate appearance heading into last night’s game against the Indians at Progressive Field, Nunez had just one extra base hit and driven in one run.
“I’m feeling OK up there, so I know it’s going to come,” Nunez said. “I don’t know why I haven’t hit like I normally do.”
He’s fully recovered from being drilled last Friday in Detroit by a Doug Fister pitch that kept him out of the starting lineup for the next two games.
The numbers might not be where he or the Yankees want them, but one of the voices he listens to most said Nunez is fine.
“We talk all the time and if I ever see him doing something wrong, I tell him,” Robinson Cano said. “I haven’t said much to him this season because he’s been swinging good.”
The conversations occasionally occur in the infield between innings, but more often they happen in the dugout.
“That’s when we talk mostly about hitting,” Nunez said. “He mostly just tells me to be confident, but sometimes he sees things, just like [hitting coach] Kevin Long does.”
It’s pretty easy to be confident when you have a swing like Cano does, something the right-handed Nunez doesn’t possess.
That’s why his slow start is more concerning than Cano’s mini-slump the first five games — there’s no guarantee Nunez will get out of it.
“I talk to Robinson all the time, but I know I can’t do the things he can do,” Nunez said. “But I know I can do more than I’ve been doing this year.”
At least he seems to have gotten the whole throwing to first thing down.
What used to be a hold-your-breath moment has become nearly routine.
“I think he’s doing way better,” Cano said. “The biggest difference is the way he’s throwing the ball. Now he’s almost perfect all the time. He worked extremely hard at it. I like that. He’s serious about it.”
Nunez’s defense has improved so much since last year that new first baseman Lyle Overbay didn’t even realize it had been an issue.
“I had no idea,” Overbay said. “He’s been real sharp since I’ve been here. I don’t want to jinx him, but he’s been pretty accurate. I have no complaints.”
Overbay may have no complaints, but if Nunez doesn’t start producing more at the plate soon, the Yankees may have some.
Last night, he was slated to hit seventh in the lineup and hoped to improve his .650 OPS, second lowest of any starting player behind only Ichiro Suzuki.
“I’ve seen him chase pitches or get too far out in front before,” Cano said. “But that hasn’t happened.”
If anyone had reason to be upset about Wednesday’s rainout, it was Cano, who had torched Indians pitching the previous two nights.
“You can’t do anything about Mother Nature,” said Cano, who had eight hits in his last 13 at-bats going into last night. “Maybe I would have kept hitting like that, or maybe I’ll be better off just having taking BP in the cage. You never know. You just want to be consistent.”
Another lesson for Nunez.