Caballero greets former club with uncharacteristic power surge

This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch’s Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TAMPA, Fla. -- José Caballero grinned and waved his cap from the top step of the George M. Steinbrenner Field visitors’ dugout this week, back at the Rays’ temporary home for the first time as an opponent.

Traded to the Yankees on July 31, Caballero’s former club honored the speedy infielder/outfielder by showing a brief scoreboard video, drawing applause from both sides of the ballpark.

Then he thanked his old mates the loudest way possible: by hitting two of the Yankees’ nine homers in a 13-3 rout. Afterward, he joked that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton had already rubbed off on him.

"That’s why [we] are the Bronx Bombers,” Caballero said. “Hanging out with those guys, something has to be contagious.”

Maybe so, but power has never been his calling card. Tuesday marked his first career multi-homer game, pushing his total to 17 across three seasons.

Speed and versatility are much more Caballero’s game. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Caballero has a Major League-leading 39 stolen bases, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone describes him as “a real heady player” who “plays the game with a lot of confidence.”

“He brings some really useful things to the table,” Boone said. “His ability to play the game within the game, the ability to handle the bat, obviously the running game. He’s really good on the bases, and then he’s a really good defender at four or five different spots. … He’s a winning player.”

Through 12 games, Caballero, who was ejected Wednesday after arguing a stolen base attempt at second base, has batted .348 (8-for-23) as a Yankee, starting at four positions. Boone even called Caballero “one of my favorite players,” something he probably wouldn’t have thought a month ago.

While he’s quick to say that he respected the skill set from across the diamond, Caballero has a well-earned reputation for being an irritant to opponents, including the Yankees.

In a June 2023 game against the Mariners, Gerrit Cole uncorked an 0-2 fastball to Caballero that landed high atop the backstop at Yankee Stadium, an incident that also created a meme-worthy clip of Cole wagging a finger repeatedly at Seattle manager Scott Servais.

Cole was irked when Caballero stepped out repeatedly during his first two at-bats until the pitch clock was down to an 8-second requirement to be in the batter’s box and alert. That prompted Cole to fire a 97 mph heater about 15 feet above Caballero’s head.

“He didn’t like the way I was manipulating the pitch clock,” Caballero said then. “He just got excited, so that’s good. The rules are there for all of us, and I just had to be ready at eight seconds.”

Caballero was stunned by the July 31 trade, which occurred during a Yankees-Rays game in the Bronx. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash tapped Caballero on the shoulder and informed him of the move.

In the minutes that followed, Caballero exchanged hugs with teammates Taylor Walls and Brandon Lowe, then packed his belongings for the first-base side. By the end of the game, Caballero was standing in the Yankees clubhouse, eager to embrace his new opportunity.

“I like to play the game hard. I like to compete,” Caballero said. “I like to give everything I have. I like winning. It doesn’t matter how you feel that day; you’ve got to find a way to give everything you have that day.”

Cash -- like Boone -- speaks highly of what Caballero adds to a clubhouse.

"I’ve said it for many, many years now: Cabby does a lot to help you win baseball games, whether it's defensively or on the bases, coming up with the big hit here and there,” Cash said. “When we got on a run, it seemed like his speed was in a lot of the good that we were doing. We wish him well.”

Next time, they’ll probably shelve the tribute video, though.