As the Yankees attempt to snap a five-game losing streak, manager Aaron Boone announced a key decision involving slumping Cody Bellinger before Tuesday’s matchup against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.
The move comes as New York prepares to face reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Skubal, whose dominance makes every lineup decision especially significant.
Cody Bellinger’s Slump Deepens
Bellinger enters Tuesday batting 2-for-27 over his last eight games, a skid Boone addressed directly in comments to the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast.
“Aaron Boone tells us Cody Bellinger will also sit tonight vs. Tarik Skubal,” the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast posted on social media Tuesday morning. “Bellinger is 2-for-27 in his last eight games.”
The outfielder’s slide has bled into nearly every recent split, turning Bellinger into more than a passing concern for a Yankees lineup that relies on him for steady production in the middle of the order.
Over his last seven games, he is hitting just .136, going 3-for-22 without a home run or an RBI while striking out five times. The 30-year-old’s broader 30-game sample shows a .252 average with five home runs and 17 RBI, numbers bolstered by an earlier hot stretch that has since gone cold. Across the full 2026 season, Bellinger is hitting .262 with 11 home runs and 49 RBI through roughly 82 games, but Boone now appears to be weighing Bellinger’s overall ceiling against his recent struggles.
A pronounced home-road split stands out in a quick look at Bellinger’s numbers. He has hit .367 with a 1.128 OPS and eight home runs at Yankee Stadium this season, compared to .182 with a .564 OPS and three home runs away from the Bronx, according to a Fireside Yankees breakdown. Against left-handed pitching specifically, Bellinger has hit .266 with four home runs in 109 at-bats this year, according to CBS Sports split data.
His track record against Skubal also may have factored into Boone’s decision. In just six at-bats against the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner, Bellinger has one hit, according to StatMuse matchup data â a rather small sample, but one that, in light of Bellinger’s slump, likely jumped out at Boone while filling out his lineup card.
Yankees’ Losing Skid and Bellinger’s Big Contract
New York entered Tuesday limping through a rough stretch, having lost eight of its last 10 games while scoring just 26 runsâfewer than three per gameâduring that span.
The Yankees pursued Bellinger aggressively as a free agent last winter after his strong first season in pinstripes, and the front office made clear it viewed him as a cornerstone moving forward.
Bellinger originally arrived from the Chicago Cubs in a December 2024 trade for pitcher Cody Poteet. Bellinger declined his $25 million player option for 2026 last November, choosing to test free agency before returning to the Bronx on Jan. 21 with a five-year, $162.5 million contract that included a $20 million signing bonus and a full no-trade clause, according to Spotrac’s contract database. The deal carries an average annual value of $32.5 million and includes opt-out clauses after the 2027 and 2028 seasons.
That long-term investment was built on a 2025 campaign in which Bellinger became one of the winter’s most coveted free agents after hitting .272 with 29 home runs and 98 RBI in his first full season in pinstripes. Now, roughly midway through the 2026 season, Boone has opted to sit his left-handed-hitting star against one of baseball’s toughest left-handed pitchers.
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