José Caballero didn’t hesitate. “Always,” he said, when asked if he longed for clutch at-bats his entire career. He wanted the pressure-filled swings. The big moments of games, like the one Wednesday night, when his walk-off double less than an hour before his answer lifted the Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Angels.
“That’s the at-bats that I want,” Caballero said. “I’m living for those at-bats. I want those at-bats every time I step in the box.”
When the Los Angeles series began Monday, he doubled in the ninth and scored the winning run during the Yankees walk-off victory.
Two nights later, he helped play hero again with his extra-base hit, allowing both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells to score.
Caballero, in the middle of a shrinking window to steal the Yankees starting shortstop job before Anthony Volpe returns, moved to .400 with two doubles and six RBIs with runners in scoring position this year.
He’s driven in seven runs across the past five games, too.
It likely won’t be enough to hold off Volpe, who received a public endorsement from general manager Brian Cashman last week in Tampa and started his rehab assignment Tuesday.
Caballero, outside of the clutch spots, has struggled, hitting just .186 for the year overall with a .543 OPS.
But with Volpe’s return looming, Caballero continued to make his case with the game-deciding hit.
“He loves the action,” manager Aaron Boone said, “and, as I’ve told you, he’s really confident. That’s one of his biggest strengths, is he thinks he’s the best player on the field — and that’s an important thing to have and play the game with. It does seem like the bigger the stakes, the more he’s able to dig in.”
So there was Caballero, who also walked and scored the third Yankees run in the second inning in a 1-for-3 night, on the receiving end of a Gatorade cooler dump postgame.
There was Caballero, one day after Volpe played five innings for Double-A Somerset and struck out twice, delivering strong defense again and then adding to it at the plate in the final moments.
This was always his opportunity, with Volpe, who struggled last season, sidelined to start the year due to a shoulder injury. If he was ever going to snag the starting shortstop job, it needed to happen before May.
Two clutch at-bats in three days won’t change what happened before this Angels series began. Caballero’s average hasn’t topped .200 since April. He recorded four hits in four games to start the year but just seven in the 13 since.
But even when Volpe returns, Caballero could still provide value for the Yankees off the bench.
His at-bat in the ninth Wednesday — and his swing on the 1-2 slider from Angels closer Jordan Romano that left the bat at 100.7 mph, dropped into left-center field and changed everything for one night — served as the latest example.
“I like to contribute to the team,” Caballero said, “and I did it.”
