Cashman praises Stanton's presence in the clubhouse

CLEVELAND — For the second straight season in this American League Championship Series, the Yankees opted for another option in mopup instead of Austin Wells, who has held the spot for much of the past two months.

Jazz Chisholm went fourth in Game 4, but for Game 5 on Saturday night they settled on their best hitter this postseason: Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton entered Saturday night's game going 9-for-30 (.300) with four home runs, nine RBIs, five walks, four strikeouts and a 1.167 OPS in eight games. Three of his home runs came in the first four games of the ALCS, including key hits in Games 3 and 4.

The man who moved to Stanton before the 2018 season, general manager Brian Cashman, said he wasn't surprised by the DH's breakout. Stanton's ability to hit a baseball has always been part of his game. After all, Stanton was named National League MVP in 2017 after hitting 59 home runs.

What has surprised Cashman to some extent is how positive Stanton has been in the clubhouse. And it didn't just start this season or this postseason, despite the attention it's currently receiving. Almost since arriving at his first spring training with the team, Stanton has been an admired and example-setting clubhouse presence, with some of his younger teammates – and even some of his more experienced ones – not hearing the word “awe,” too strong a word to use to describe how they feel.

“We knew we were getting an extremely talented guy, a Hall of Fame-caliber power hitter who's a really good person,” Cashman said on the field before Game 5. “But you don't know what they'll be “) in New York when it comes to New York. What we know now is that we have a very considerate and responsible leader who appears to be rising to the occasion, especially in October. He has proven that he has much more than we realized when we took over. We knew we were going to make a difference in the bat department, but we also had a difference in that clubhouse.”

Cortés looks good

Left-hander Nestor Cortes, who suffered a left elbow flexor strain on Sept. 25 and was unavailable during the ALDS or ALCS, held a live batting practice here Saturday afternoon and appears to be in line to be added to the roster , if the Yankees make it to the World Series.

Before Saturday's game, Aaron Boone said Cortes will “probably” throw another live BP early this week. “If this goes well,” he said, “I would probably feel good about him being in the game for us (in the World Series).”