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TAMPA, Fla. &#8212; This time last year Tyler Austin was in a walking boot and using a scooter to get around the New York Yankees clubhouse.After missing all of spring training last season, it&#8217;s an understatement to say that he&#8217;s excited to have a camp this time around.While Austin did rebound from that pre-spring training foot injury, it took time for the first baseman to get going, splitting time between both the Yankees and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Enjoying the big-league camp from the start, Austin&#8217;s not wasting any time in the Grapefruit League.While Austin only has seven hits this spring, four of them are home runs, including a ninth-inning solo shot on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 26-year-old first baseman followed up his solo shot by going 1-for-1 with a single to left-center field in Friday&#8217;s 2-0 loss to the Houston Astros.&#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m continuing to get better every day. Working hard at first base. Swing is starting to come around a little bit,&#8221; Austin said. &#8220;To get a chance to come out and get some at-bats and kind of get into a rhythm early, it&#8217;s big. I&#8217;m excited about it.&#8220;I&#8217;m just happy to have the opportunity to come out here and play. I&#8217;m just taking it day-by-day and having fun and getting better every single day.&#8221;While Austin&#8217;s numbers don&#8217;t exactly pop off the page &#8212; batting .269 &#8212; Yankees manager Aaron Boone has liked what he&#8217;s seen from from the first baseman.Boone cited Austin&#8217;s ability to control the strike zone and has ability to drive the ball the other way as some of his &#8220;impressive&#8221; qualities this spring. While the first-base and outfield depth chart is tight at the moment, Austin has put himself in consideration to make the Yankees&#8217; roster out of camp.&#8220;He&#8217;s done a good job. He&#8217;s done everything he&#8217;s needed to do,&#8221; Boone said. &#8220;It could be tough, but you never know. He&#8217;s still here and he&#8217;s shown that he can really hit.&#8221;Montgomery fans fourFormer RailRiders ace Jordan Montgomery didn&#8217;t seem too concerned that he gave up two solo shots in his four-inning outing on Friday.Montgomery, who Boone named the team&#8217;s fifth starter earlier in the week, was focused on the four strikeouts he registered all while without giving up a walk.&#8220;Hung that curveball up a little bit, and I think he was just sitting curveball (with) the way he was not swinging at the curveballs in the dirt. And the first one, I thought it was going to be a pop fly and it just kept going,&#8221; Montgomery said.&#8220;I felt comfortable out there. I threw a lot of strikes. Got three or four swing-and-misses on my changeup. Good progression, I guess.&#8221;This spring has been a little bit different than others in the past.Locking down the starting job early, he has been able to relax a little more knowing his future is set in stone. Unlike last year, when Montgomery left Tampa still fighting Chad Green for the final spot in the rotation.&#8220;The work ethic&#8217;s still going to be the same &#8212; the attitude,&#8221; Montgomery said. &#8220;Maybe I can work on things a little more. I&#8217;m still trying to get outs and compete out there. Really trying to just focus on getting on the mound and zoning out and getting into the mode where I&#8217;m just not thinking about anything is what I&#8217;m just kind of trying to do.&#8221;Walker makes debutFormer RailRiders infielder Tyler Wade&#8217;s main competition for the Yankees&#8217; starting second-base job, Neil Walker, made his debut on Friday. He went 0-for-1 and was hit by a pitch while playing four innings at first base.Boone said after the game that Walker will play second against the Miami Marlins on Sunday.&#8220;(I felt) pretty comfortable. I didn&#8217;t get any ground balls, but the right side of the infield feels fairly comfortable to me,&#8221; Walker said. &#8220;It was good to get some action and know that I have a nice week-long load of work left before the season starts.&#8221;Wade is making the trip to Lakeland to play the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.Judge to play left in minors SaturdayAaron Judge won&#8217;t be making the trip to Lakeland.Instead, the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year will stay behind in Tampa to play left field in a low-level minor league spring training game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Judge will only play in the field.Cave traded to TwinsAfter being designated for assignment on Monday, former RailRiders outfielder Jake Cave was traded to the Minnesota Twins for minor league right hander Luis Gil.Gil has spent his two professional seasons with Minnesota both pitching for the DSL Twins. He was 1-4 with two saves, a 3.32 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 30 games. The 19-year-old pitched as a reliever in 2016 before making 14 starts last season.Cave finishes his six-year Yankees minor league career as a .285 hitter with 39 home runs and 223 RBI in 599 games. He batted .324 with 15 home runs and 38 RBI in 72 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Austin </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Tyler-Austin.jpg</photo0><caption0>Austin </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By DJ Eberledjeberle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</shirttailMeta></div>

Spring Training Notebook: Yankees first baseman Tyler Austin making up for lost time