It started as conversation among the Yankees’ players last season and intensified as the year went along. The motivators, most interestingly, were the premier power hitters on the team — Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton.
They felt that, yes, power had to be part of the Bronx Bombers’ portfolio. But then the Astros eliminated the Yankees from yet another postseason. The through-line for the teams who were vanquishing the Yankees annually was a more well-rounded positional group and the ability to play baseball better (for want of a better term) and not just rely on brute force to try to win, especially when that part of the game was shut down.
So the conversations led by Judge, Rizzo and Stanton moved among players, then to the coaches and finally to upper management. It stimulated change. Being more diversified became a point of emphasis for the 2023 team. The hitting coach, Dillon Lawson, mentioned — among other items — that there is now a meeting held of all the hitters every two weeks to discuss their successes and failures. They emphasize that the three-run homer is the Yankees’ identity, but that it cannot be the only identity, the only pathway to runs — especially when the scoreboard (score, inning, men on base situation) dictates a need for baserunning acumen or getting the ball in play.
“That’s something I’ve been pushing for a while just about just trying to be more athletic,” Judge said. “To get more guys in the lineup that are different hitters; and it’s not all the same hitter. I feel like in years past we’ve kind of had the same hitter over and over and over and pitchers cane get into a routine of pitching guys the exact same way. Sure we want power. But you also want to spread the ball around the field more and make it for the opposing team to play you, especially in the postseason — to make the opposing pitcher have to game plan for nine different types of players.”
Which brings us to the 8-9-1 hitters in the Yankees order Saturday in what became a 3-2 win against Toronto. Those were the homegrown trio of Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe, who are 24, 23 and 22 years old, repectively. They are the Yankees’ best chance to tighten up an already strong defense further and provide a larger buffet on offense.
The Yankees had just one hit in the first seven innings against Toronto starter Alek Manoah — an opposite field, one-out double by Cabrera in the fourth. He stole third. Peraza walked and stole second. In the biggest at-bat of the inning, Volpe struck out. But what the Yankees love about Volpe, and this entire trio, transcends skill. They are energetic, enthusiastic and have shown a tough-mindedness.
Peraza did not sulk when Volpe won the shortstop job in spring training. He reported immediately to minor league camp (though he did not have to), made more strong impressions and has been terrific on both sides of the ball since his promotion last Monday. He singled Saturday with two outs in the eighth inning of a scoreless game. And Volpe was not cowed by his early big strikeout. He followed Peraza’s hit with his second major league home run — his first into the short right-field porch and his first curtain call.
It is not that power will not be part of the trio’s skill set, but it is a set. Volpe has been terrific on defense, 8-for-8 on steals and has now reached base in 10 straight games. He has taken the leadoff spot and might not give it up for a decade-plus.
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Cabrera shows signs of breaking out on offense, but even while he struggled hitting, he kept flipping around the diamond and playing well everywhere. It moved Gerrit Cole to say, “I am in awe of a player who can move anywhere on the field and play defense the way he does.”
Peraza did not lose the shortstop job as much Volpe won it. And now with Josh Donaldson out for who knows how long, Peraza might just make it impossible to remove him from the lineup.
“I think that their development through our system has been great,” Cole said. “They’re just true ballplayers in every sense of the word. They’re connected to their teammates. They’re connected to the situational aspects of the game. They’re able to take advantage of all the luxuries that we have as a major league player at this at this age to try to hone their craft, but at the same time, not losing sense of just basic things that put you in a position to win a lot of ballgames. I think all of them have a tremendous feel for that.”
None of the three youngsters was involved in the bottom of the ninth, when the Yankees scored the winning run after the Blue Jays tied it in the top of the inning. But that run was manufactured in a way that will have prominence in those biweekly meetings. Rizzo led off with an opposite-field double, Gleyber Torres reached on an infield single and pinch-runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa made a heady dash to third when no one was guarding the bag. Willie Calhoun walked to load the bases. And against a five-man infield, DJ LeMahieu rifled a grounder to left for the winning RBI — no homers, but also no swinging strikes in 11 pitches against the excellent closer Jordan Romano.
The Yankees played baseball better — and won.