Andrew Benintendi stays mum on future with Yankees

ANAHEIM, Calif. — For a team that was on a historic win pace for much of the first half of the season and entered Wednesday with a seven-game lead in the AL East, the Yankees have quite a bit of uncertainty in their outfield — both for the stretch run and looking ahead to next year.

Aaron Judge can be a free agent. Aaron Hicks still has three years and $30 million left on his contract but has become a little-used bench player. Giancarlo Stanton’s persistent leg issues prevent him from being a regular presence in the outfield.

They also have Harrison Bader, the return from St. Louis for Jordan Montgomery, a defensive specialist who hasn’t even played in any rehab games as he comes back from plantar fasciitis.

Then there’s Andrew Benintendi, acquired from Kansas City before the trade deadline to provide some much-needed consistency and balance to the offense from the left side.

Benintendi is also set to be a free agent after this season and said this week hasn’t given much thought to his plans for next year.

“Not at all,’’ Benintendi said before going 0-for-4 in the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Angels. “I’ll worry about that once the season is over. There’s only a month or so left and I want to keep the focus here.”

Though the Yankees scored more than four runs just twice in their previous nine games heading into Wednesday’s series finale, Benintendi has given them what they’d hoped for over that stretch, going 13-for-36, with two doubles, two homers, seven RBIs, just four strikeouts and an OPS of .968.

That came after his first 22 games with the Yankees, when the 28-year-old hit just .192 (14-for-73), with no homers, five RBIs and 19 strikeouts with an OPS of just .604.

Benintendi said not much has changed to cause the improved performance.

“I haven’t changed my approach or made adjustments,” Benintendi said. “I just do what’s worked before.”

During his first weeks as a Yankee, one part of his game told him he wasn’t right at the plate.

“I was striking out and fouling off pitches that I should have been hitting, so I knew I was off,’’ Benintendi said. “That’s not my game. When I strike out, I know I’m not going good.”