The Yankees’ search for outfield depth led them to trade for Arizona’s Tim Locastro, who joined the team in The Bronx on Friday night.
Manager Aaron Boone expects the righty-hitting Locastro to get playing time against left-handed pitching, allowing the Yankees to avoid playing Brett Gardner every day — and to avoid playing Aaron Judge in center.
“We love [Locastro’s] speed and athleticism and his ability to really defend in the outfield,’’ Boone said before Friday’s rainout against the Mets. “He’s another guy with big-time speed and can go play defense in the outfield, especially when we have leads and trying to close down a game.”
The Yankees have been criticized for their lack of speed and versatility.
Clint Frazier went on the injured list with vertigo Friday, but even before that, the Yankees needed another outfielder and hadn’t been able to find one at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The 28-year-old Locastro, who grew up in upstate Auburn and played at Ithaca College, said before Friday’s rainout he expected several family members to be at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s something you dream about as a kid,’’ said Locastro, who was a Yankees fan as a child and was in attendance for Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS against Orioles, when Raul Ibanez pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez and hit a game-tying homer in a game the Yankees eventually won.
Locastro was first traded to the Yankees in November 2018, when they acquired him from the Dodgers, but he was sent to Arizona two months later.
This season, he has struggled at the plate, especially against left-handers, but he has spent most of his time on defense in center field, where the Yankees have been in shambles since the season-ending injury to Aaron Hicks.
Judge was scheduled to be back in the lineup Friday after missing Wednesday’s game. He said the lower-body issues he has dealt with throughout the season won’t cause him to skip the All-Star Game in Denver later this month.
Asked who he wanted to see at the All-Star Game, Judge singled out the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr.
“What he’s doing is pretty special,’’ Judge said. “The energy and excitement he brings to baseball, I’m excited to see him put on a show.”
Boone said the Yankees still don’t have a starter for Sunday’s finale of the Subway Series.
Zack Britton is scheduled to throw off a mound Saturday in his comeback from the left hamstring strain that landed him on the IL for the second time this season, according to Boone. Luis Severino is “close to the point” of getting on the mound after his setback during Tommy John rehab, when he suffered a strained groin during a rehab start.
Gleyber Torres’ nightmarish season includes a 14-game stretch without an extra-base hit going into Saturday. Torres was 6-for-50 with seven walks and 17 strikeouts during that span.
Before the rainout, the Yankees honored 11-year-old Blake Wheatley, a Little League player who has the same bicuspid aortic valve condition as Boone. Wheatley played catch with Boone on the field during batting practice.
