Yankees’ Domingo German thriving even with rotation spot secure

TAMPA — Domingo German entered camp in a competition for the Yankees’ fifth starter job.

An injury to Carlos Rodon has since all but solidified German’s spot in the rotation, but the right-hander has held up his end of the bargain, too.

German made his third Grapefruit League start on Saturday and continued to emphasize staying aggressive as he ramps up for the regular season.

“That was a key element to the successful campaign I had a few years back,” German said through an interpreter of his 18-win campaign in 2019. “I felt that I’ve been doing that at a good pace this year so far in camp. So really just looking to be aggressive in the zone and not wasting time there.”

German built up to 50 pitches while giving up two runs on three hits over 2 ¹/₃ innings against the Phillies at Steinbrenner Field. He struck out three and walked none, giving him 10 strikeouts and one walk across 7 ²/₃ innings this spring.

“Attacking, but also, he’s such a good strike thrower,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So attacking it but attacking it with his best stuff. Don’t hold anything back. That’s what’s been good to see. The crispness, the sharpness of the stuff has been consistently better. That’s been good to see.”

German is currently in line to start the Yankees’ third game of the season, behind Gerrit Cole and Luis Severino. But he insisted that the injury to Rodon, a mild forearm muscle strain that is expected to keep him out until mid-to-late April, has not changed anything for him.

“Mentality stays the same,” German said. “Very focused on my job and the things I need to do and my routine and work.”

Josh Donaldson was a late scratch from the Yankees’ split-squad lineup against the Phillies and instead was inserted into their split-squad lineup against the Pirates in Bradenton, Fla. Boone gave himself the error on the “miscommunication.”

“I worked through his schedule last week and we were talking in here and he thought I had him Pirates, which I think I probably kind of said it, but I wrote down [Phillies],” Boone said.

“The bus got down there [Bradenton] and they were like, ‘Uh, Donaldson’s in the tub down here.’ I’m like, ‘Oh. All right, well we’ll just switch some things around.’ ”

Nestor Cortes (hamstring) is scheduled to throw another live batting practice session on Monday, with the idea that he would make his Grapefruit League debut on March 19.

That would give him time for three starts before he slots into the back end of the Yankees’ rotation in the first week of the regular season.

The Yankees optioned RHP Jhony Brito and RHP Randy Vasquez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and reassigned them to minor league camp.