Jose Caballeros pitch clock reality setting in as search for clarity stalls: Aint figuring this out
PHILADELPHIA — José Caballero insists he is not mad.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.
His reaction the last few days to the league tweaking its pitch clock rules (or interpretations) in response to his season-long routine in the batter’s box would suggest otherwise, but even after an off day Thursday, the Yankees utilityman said he was still lacking clarity on what he could and could not do.“I’m not mad at anyone,” Caballero said Friday at Citizens Bank Park.“I just want to be a baseball player.”Pitch clock rules state that a batter must be in the box and alert to the pitcher by the time there are eight seconds left on the clock.
Caballero did that Wednesday (he was actually alert at nine seconds) but was still hit with a pitch-clock violation because, as he has done all season, he spent the seconds before the eight-second mark in the box but looking down until the last possible second.Unbeknownst to Caballero and the Yankees, MLB decided to crack down on his tactics beginning Wednesday, restricting hitters from attempting “to deceive a pitcher into beginning their windup or coming to the set position.”Caballero, though, does not see it as deception but rather his routine, which meant entering Friday’s game against the Phillies — he did not play the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader — he was still trying to figure out a new routine in the batter’s box.“I have to see from when I get in the box,” Caballero said.“We’ll see.”On Friday, Caballero seemed to be a mix of despondent and still ticked off as he discussed his new reality.
His first four answers to questions on the subject were all one word.He had a brief conversation with the league between Wednesday’s games — he said Mike Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, was on the phone and then passed it to “someone else” — but it only l...