Yankees frustrated after Caballero's pitch-timer approach is rebuffed

NEW YORK -- Prior to Game 1 of Wednesday’s split doubleheader against the Pirates at Yankee Stadium, manager Aaron Boone was asked about his opinion of utility specialist José Caballero before New York acquired him at the 2025 Trade Deadline. Boone did not mince words -- with a smile and chuckle, of course.

“I didn’t like him,” Boone said.

Following the Yankees’ 5-3 loss in Game 1, however, the joking tone related to Caballero’s routine at home plate -- and the way it is umpired -- was gone.

With a runner on and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Caballero was called for an automatic strike on a pitch-timer violation for the second strike of his at-bat. It was the same move that Caballero often employs, waiting until the last second to lift his head up and be alert towards the pitcher with eight seconds remaining on the pitch timer.

Caballero launched into a discussion with home-plate umpire Quinn Wolcott, with Wolcott being heard on the mics at the plate saying, “You don’t get to do the three or four seconds thing in the box anymore.” Boone and third-base coach Luis Rojas came down to separate Caballero from Wolcott. When second-base umpire Adrian Johnson, the crew chief, arrived to continue talking with Boone, Caballero was also heard telling Wolcott, “You’re picking on me.”

According to Boone, the umpiring crew told him that they determined that Caballero was attempting to “deceive the pitcher” with his routine. After the game, Boone said that the Yankees’ displeasure lies in the fact that the team was not made aware of this change in the interpretation before this latest incident, when there’s been consistent dialogue between the club and the league about Caballero’s approach to the pitch-timer rule.

“I’ve been told very specifically over and over when we have had issues, when I’ve had my conversations with the league -- [Caballero] has to be alert at eight seconds,” Boone said. “That’s making sure Cabby looks up at nine [seconds], just make sure he’s in. That’s very specifically what I’ve been told. And today was something different. And they didn’t give us the heads up.”

Earlier this week, a confrontation between Pirates pitcher Dennis Santana and Caballero leading to a benches-clearing incident in the series opener on Monday. Santana took exception to Caballero’s manipulation of the pitch timer, leading to a pitch being waved off before Caballero grounded into a double play.

As the conference at the plate ended Wednesday, Yankees hitting coach James Rowson was ejected for yelling in the direction of Johnson as he returned to his position in the infield. Immediately after the lengthy delay, Caballero was called out on strikes on a splitter by Carmen Mlodzinski to end the inning.

In discussion with pool reporter Brendan Kuty from The Athletic after Game 1, Johnson and Wolcott explained the shift in ruling despite Caballero seeming to work within the confines of the pitch timer.

“From our vantage point, Caballero circumvented the pitch-clock rules. It’s been an issue before,” Johnson said. “He’s been warned about it. He circumvented the rule, and we enforced the rule and gave him a violation.”

“It’s talking about when he gets in the [batter’s box], he’s not allowed an inordinate amount of time looking down, trying to get the pitcher to cause a violation,” Wolcott said. “… Obviously, it’s caused a lot of problems in the past. It’s not going to be allowed anymore.”

Caballero said that his confusion and frustration stems from the fact that he feels he is not trying to deceive the pitcher when he steps into the box at the cadence he does. Reiterating Boone’s point, it’s not the first time that he, the Yankees and MLB have been in discussion about how to clearly define his routine in accordance with the pitch-timer rules.

But the latest installment to this saga has added a new wrinkle, with Caballero feeling as though he has to change the way he steps into the box and looks toward the pitcher.

“Now, they just don’t want me to do my routine,” Caballero said. “So it's tricky for me because it’s the way that I get settled and the way that I try to approach my at-bats.”

But while voicing his opinion -- and still figuring out his new mechanism ahead of Game 2 -- Caballero is unconcerned about how he’ll show up competitively for at-bats.

“I think my strength is being a ballplayer, and I’m that without the clock,” Caballero said. “And I’ve been playing baseball without clocks my whole life.”