Yangervis Solarte was one of the Yankees’ biggest bright spots early on this season, coming out of nowhere to make the team as a 26-year-old career minor leaguer, grabbing hold of the starting job at third base, and hitting .300 with six homers and an .834 OPS in 49 games through April and May.
Unfortunately he’s hit just .162 in 22 games since June 1, including his current 3-for-41 (.073) slump, and today the Yankees decided to demote Solarte back to Triple-A.
Solarte’s overall numbers are still pretty solid with a .266 batting average, .343 on-base percentage, and .736 OPS, which is actually the fourth-best mark on the Yankees behind Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner, and Jacoby Ellsbury (and ahead of, among others, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Derek Jeter, Alfonso Soriano, and Ichiro Suzuki).
He deserves another shot at some point, but in the meantime the Yankees have called up 27-year-old career minor leaguer Zelous Wheeler, a utility man hitting .299 with seven homers and an .834 OPS in 66 games at Triple-A.