CC Sabathia doesn’t miss the high heat.
The newly inducted Hall of Famer and Yankees special assistant said he’s not yearning to step on the rubber every fifth day.
“I don’t. Not at all,” Sabathia told The Post in an exclusive interview. “I wish I could tell you sit here and be like, ‘Oh, I wish I could. I miss this. I miss that.’ I don’t miss it at all, man. I’m having a great time in retirement. Somebody asked me (recently), I was in Cincinnati seeing the Reds and the Blue Jays, and I think it was Emilio Pagan. He was like, ‘Oh, so how’s retirement?’ I was like, ‘Man, I should have retired 15 years ago.’”
Sabathia is much more interested in his post-baseball career at this point.
The former ace has a robust charity, PitCCh In Foundation, which will host a massive golf charity event on Sept. 9 featuring New York athletes past and present like Derek Jeter, Michael Strahan, Gerrit Cole, Chris Young, Aaron Hicks, Dellin Betances and many more.
All proceeds from that event, as well as an auction the day prior, will go to inner-city families and youth.
Sabathia added that in addition to the charity work and his role as special assistant for the Yankees, he’s working for the league office.
Sabathia said that the Yankees’ ceiling for this season is as high as they want it to be, but inconsistency is the thorn in their side.
“There have been so many peaks and valleys throughout the season,” Sabathia said. “I think if they can just play consistently, for a month, and just see how it goes. Catching the baseball, pitching well, getting hits when you need them. I think, you know, not just relying on a home run, but being able to manufacture runs. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
The Yankees, who lead the major leagues in home runs, are also near the top for errors committed.
When asked about the sloppy play, and particularly what they should do with struggling shortstop Anthony Volpe, Sabathia offered a calming message.
“You know what’s crazy? I think it’s like people need to relax,” Sabathia said.
“I just watch, like you know. Miguel Andujar got ran out of here because we said he couldn’t catch ground balls. I mean, that guy’s still playing in the big leagues today. It’s hard to develop young talent here. Just because of the demand, right? Like, we’re trying to win the World Series every year. You don’t have time for guys to go through growing pains. I mean, I feel like Gary Sanchez could still be catching for us if we had patience. If we were able to … like if … as a fan base, as a city, let let these kids go through whatever they’re going to go through. The game’s hard to play, man. It’s very difficult.”
Volpe, who leads the American League in errors with 18, has had some brutal moments in the field in recent weeks.
“It’s hard to come up in this, you know. You watch so many guys, you watch so many veterans come here and struggle,” Sabathia added.
“Can you imagine a 21-year-old or a 20-year-old that comes here and all the pressures on their shoulders. I think Volpe gets a tough break because people want to compare him to Derek [Jeter] all the time, and like, hey, he needs to replace Derek. Well, what about [Didi Gregorious]? Dee replaced Derek beautifully. Hit back-to-back 20 home run seasons. Played a great shortstop. Nobody ever talked about Derek being gone when Dee was playing shortstop.”
The Yankees, 78-63, enter Saturday four games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East.
