Dobbins responds to report on dad's baseball career, stir over his Yanks comments

BOSTON -- The day before facing the Yankees for the first time in his young career, Hunter Dobbins made a comment to the Boston Herald on Saturday that he’d rather “retire” than play for the Yankees. Within the story, Dobbins stated that his father Lance had been drafted twice by the Yankees before being traded to the Diamondbacks.

On Tuesday night, a report from the New York Post surfaced that Lance had never been drafted or traded by the Yankees. There is record of Lance playing independent ball from 1996-97 and both Hunter's Texas Tech bio and the 2025 Red Sox media guide mention Lance being in the D-backs’ organization.

Dobbins addressed the New York Post story and his comments ahead of Boston’s series finale vs. the Rays on Wednesday.

“My feelings and all that, they're based off of my personal experiences and nothing to do with growing up or family,” Dobbins said. “And also it’s a rivalry, so we're just having some fun. Jazz [Chisholm Jr.] got into it too, and we had a good time about it.

“The whole backstory, stuff that I had heard growing up, and seen pictures from my dad -- at the end of the day, it's just from my dad, and what kind of grew my love for the game. But at the end of the day, I don't go and fact check my dad or anything like that.”

The original comments referring to not wanting to play for the Yankees caused a stir online and were a point of discussion on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast in Boston’s 11-7 win. Dobbins’ comments also reached the Yankees’ clubhouse.

“I don’t think I would ever say it. I think it closes doors. But I like it though,” Chisholm told reporters on Sunday.

“I’ve only heard Ken Griffey Jr. say that, so I was a little surprised,” said Judge, who hit a two-run homer off Dobbins in the first inning of Sunday’s finale.

“I mean, there's absolutely no hard feelings either way,” Dobbins said. “I mean, we're competitors at the top of what we do, and it's a very competitive and passionate game. So I mean, we both had fun with it, and at the end of the day, the score was the score and looking forward to more of it.”

When asked if he was surprised at the response over his comments, Dobbins said, “not really.”

“This is a great rivalry. It’s two cities that have a long history together,” Dobbins said. “So I mean, anything that's kind of in the news that goes with both of them is going to turn into a story. It just adds to the game and we just have to embrace and kind of keep rolling.”

Dobbins gave up three runs on four hits over five innings in his last start against New York and is slated to pitch on Saturday in the second of a three-game set vs. the Yankees at Fenway. Dobbins was asked if he’d spoken to his father about the story, to which he said, “A little bit, not really.”

“My whole focus is on Saturday and getting ready to face the Yankees,” Dobbins said. “This is my first time in the big leagues facing a team a second time, let alone back to back. So that's where my focus is, 100 percent. I imagine we'll talk in the future, or something like that, but it's been a bigger deal than it really needed to be. But at the end of the day, I just need [to be] ready to go for Saturday.”