MLB

Yankees’ vital cog Teixeira takes another step forward

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran bagged $283 million from the Yankees this offseason to prop up a lineup that was ruined by injury last year.

Yet, the most important cog to the revamped lineup has been a Yankee since 2009 but played in only 15 games last year.

Ellsbury can get on base, McCann and Beltran can drive in runs, but if Mark Teixeira doesn’t return as a middle-of-the-order run producer, the Yankees won’t be the feared lineup many believe they will be.

So, Teixeira wrestles with pushing his surgically repaired right wrist in order to drive balls by April 1, when the Yankees open in Houston against the possibility of over-doing it and suffering a setback.

“If I do a little too extra I can feel it get tired and a little sore, but it’s nothing un-natural. It’s the progression that I am making,’’ Teixeira said Saturday at Osceola County Stadium, where the Yankees topped the Astros, 9-6. “I am up to 120 swings a day, which is great. That’s a lot of swings and I have been able to bounce back every day from them.’’

After last year’s lost season, the switch-hitting Teixeira has accepted less is more when it comes to swings.

“There are a lot of guys who can go out there and swing 500 times a day. Carlos Beltran swings and swings and swings. I don’t know how he does it,’’ said Teixeira, who went 1-for-2 with a double and run scored, and hasn’t tested the wrist with a swing and a miss or a check swing in two games. “There are other guys who only need 20 to 30 swings to be locked in. I am right in the middle. I need a lot of swings but I do have to be careful.’’

Because Teixeira’s last 2013 game was June 15 and he wasn’t ready when the bell rang on this exhibition season, he has spent camp not only strengthening the wrist but chipping away at the rust caused by inactivity.

“I am knocking off rust. Two days ago it was just being out there,’’ Teixeira said. “Going after foul balls and coming in on bunts, things like that. I am continuing to knock off rust and get my legs in shape.”

Teixeira said it was good to see a right-hander and left-hander in the same game.

“I like doing that in spring training. Because we have days off and sometimes the pitchers change so much I could go three days without seeing a left-handed pitcher,’’ said Teixeira, whose double came hitting right-handed against lefty Darin Downs. “It’s nice to get some right-handed at-bats.’’

Upon entering camp Teixeira was concerned that if he were going to feel anything, it would happen batting from the left side because the wrist in question was the bottom hand. While it’s very early in the process, the concerns weren’t warranted.

“It feels good so far. I am taking a lot of swings, lot of live swings and trying to hit that ball hard,’’ Teixeira said. “No complaints so far.’’