Yankees Jose Caballero seeks clarity on pitch clock rule as he continues to seek edge

José Caballero said he entered Tuesday’s game against the White Sox still unclear of the pitch clock rule that he’s often been able to use to his advantage.The issue stemmed from Sunday’s controversy in Toronto, where Caballero was issued a warning for not engaging with the pitcher with eight seconds left on the clock.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

“I’m still waiting [for] the actual rule,’’ Caballero said before going 2-for-4 with a solo homer and two RBIs in the Yankees’ series-opening 12-2 win against Chicago in The Bronx.“That’s it.”Aaron Boone, though, said he had a lengthy chat with the league Monday and passed along some of the messaging to Caballero.The issue, Boone said, is that the umpires need to see that Caballero doesn’t just have his head up by eight seconds, but is also “alert” at that time.“I certainly understand what he’s trying to do, and he has a rhythm and a process to get locked in,” Boone said.

“We think it’s within the rules.”If there’s a change, it’s that Caballero has to understand what “alert” means — and that he doesn’t step out of the batter’s box unless the umpire says the pitcher hasn’t engaged him in time.“I tried to get very specific and give José some instruction where we should be OK,” Boone said.The Yankees don’t want to take away that aspect of Caballero’s game, with Boone noting that his ability to irritate the opposition is one of the aspects of his game that intrigued them when he was with the Rays.Caballero, evidently still mystified, said he would ask the home plate umpire as he got to the plate for the first time to get the umpire’s interpretation of the rule.“They’ve been changing the rule every single day,’’ Caballero said.One potential issue is that Caballero occasionally holds his bat in a hitting position while not looking up for an e...