Yankees: Aaron Boone reveals surprising Isiah Kiner-Falefa plan

Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa might lose his starting spot to Oswald Peraza, but manager Aaron Boone has a plan for him either way.

Entering the 2023 season, the New York Yankees have a loaded, superstar-laden roster, save for two glaring question marks at shortstop and left field; Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Aaron Hicks have a tenuous grasp on starting spots, for now. One potential answer? Turning your problematic shortstop into a left fielder, apparently.

With a three-way battle for shortstop underway, manager Aaron Boone is entertaining the possibility of moving Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the outfield if he loses the starting job to Oswald Peraza, one of the many highly regarded shortstops in the Yankees' minor league system, as reported by Chris Kirschner.

Heading into his second season in pinstripes, Isiah Kiner-Falefa is arguably one of the most divisive players in all of baseball; rarely—if ever—has a slap-hitting utility man inspired such vitriol. Despite producing the fifth most Wins Above Replacement of any Yankee last season, Kiner-Falefa has been held up by fans and media as a totem for the problems that have plagued the Yankees in recent years. His goodness is fairly opaque and hard to parse—he hits for contact, but never any power; he plays nearly every infield position, but plays none of them exceptionally well. Most damningly, he was benched in last year's ALCS, losing his spot to Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera for the last three games of the series.

In this sense, the possibility of Kiner-Falefa playing in the outfield is representative of both his greatest strengths and weaknesses as a player. In one sense, Kiner-Falefa's ability to toggle between positions is an asset for a Yankees team that has struggled to stay healthy over the last few years. But while Kiner-Falefa's middling production at the plate is fairly harmless when he's playing shortstop, it would represent a much larger opportunity cost if he's played as a left fielder, which is traditionally a hiding spot for big bats. Either way, for better or worse (and, make no mistake, it's worse), Kiner-Falefa looks like he'll figure into Aaron Boone's plans for the upcoming season.