Yanks’ Donaldson stays on injured list with hamstring strain

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson will remain on the injured list because of a strained right hamstring after feeling discomfort during a minor league rehabilitation assignment.

The former AL MVP was injured on April 5 in the Yankees’ sixth game this season while running between home and first on a flyout. He went 1 for 3 on Tuesday in his first game with Double-A Somerset and felt the tightness, then was sent for a scan.

“So he had the MRI and he does have a Grade 1-plus, probably, strain in there so he’ll probably be another couple of weeks,” manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s series opener against Toronto. “He’s doing pretty well. He’s getting around pretty well but there is something there.”

Grade 1 is the mildest of three grades used to define the severity of strains.

A three-time All-Star, the 37-year-old Donaldson is 2 for 16 (.125) for the Yankees this season. Acquired from Minnesota in March 2022, he has a $21 million salary this year in the final season of a $92 million, four-year contract he agreed to with the Twins. The deal includes a $16 million option for 2024 with an $8 million buyout.

Donaldson was voted AL MVP with Toronto in 2015.

He is among a dozen Yankees on the injured list, joined by designed hitter Giancarlo Stanton (strained left hamstring); center fielder Harrison Bader (strained left oblique); starting pitchers Carlos Rodón (strained left forearm), Luis Severino (strained right lat muscle) and Frankie Montas (right shoulder surgery); relievers Tommy Kahnle (right biceps tendinitis), Lou Trivino (strained right elbow), Scott Effross (Tommy John surgery) and Jonathan Loáisiga (right elbow inflammation); pitcher Luis Gil (Tommy John surgery); catcher Ben Rortvedt (left shoulder aneurysm surgery).

Bader started a rehab assignment on Friday at Somerset and Rortvedt began at Class A Tampa.