Aaron Boone said he “didn’t necessarily see this coming.”

Jake Bauers’ play did not leap out at the Yankees manager during spring training.

The Yankees had acquired the first baseman/outfielder from the Reds in June 2022, believing there was more in his bat than he had been showing.

Bauers, who debuted in 2018 with the Rays and has also played for Cleveland and Seattle, did not get his chance last year, when his swing was tweaked at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to engineer more power.

It took until this April 29, after he had torn up minor league pitching for a month, for Bauers to finally crack the major league lineup.

The past three-plus months, Boone said, “has been a revelation for us.”

“He’s been really good,” Boone said before a 3-1 win over the Astros on Saturday in The Bronx, in which Bauers was really good again.

The 27-year-old smacked a home run, his 11th in just 59 games this season, to put the Yankees ahead to stay in the fifth inning.

He entered the at-bat just 2-for-15 with six strikeouts in his career against Houston’s Justin Verlander, but he saw a slider in the middle of the plate and crushed it into the second deck in right field.

“Haven’t had too much success off of him, [but] felt I was seeing him pretty well today,” said Bauers, who has four home runs in his past seven games.

In a mostly quiet offense, Bauers’ bat has become a necessity and his glove has proven versatile enough.

For much of this year, Bauers played the corner outfield, to where he had transitioned over the past few seasons.

Now, with Anthony Rizzo on the injured list with post-concussion syndrome, Bauers has logged four straight starts at first base.

“Grew up playing first base, feel good over there,” said Bauers, who has looked fine at the spot.

He just needs to field enough to ensure his bat can crack the lineup, which is easier to do with Rizzo sidelined. The lefty-hitting Bauers has risen to the top of the lineup against opposing righties and owns an OPS that has risen to .821.

Boone thought back to April, when he received reports on Bauers that amounted to: “This is real.”

Seemingly each day, Bauers has taken another step toward proving his bat is the real deal.

“It means everything. It means a lot. This is the dream,” Bauers said of this season. “Not only to have a little bit of success and help the team win — let alone the New York Yankees — it’s everything. I don’t take it for granted.”