Yankees manager Aaron Boone recalls facing CC Sabathia for the first time
Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia walks to the dugout during a spring training game against the Phillies, Thursday, March 1, 2018, in Clearwater, Fla. Credit: AP / Lynne Sladky
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Aaron Boone recalled it all.
It was July 13, 2001, and he was a member of the Reds, facing 20-year-old Indians rookie CC Sabathia for the first time.
“He would embarrass you because of the overwhelming stuff,” Boone said Thursday. “I remember the first time I faced him when he first got called up in 2001 in Cincinnati. He struck me out three times and I fell down in the batter’s box swinging at the third pitch.”
Boone, now Sabathia’s manager, was 28 years old at the time, an established big-leaguer. And, for the record, his memory was spot on. Boone, in an 0-for-4 performance, indeed did strike out three times.
“It was just like the stuff was overwhelming,” said Boone, who became a teammate and friend of Sabathia’s when they were with the Indians in 2005-06.
In Boone’s eyes, the transformation Sabathia has made in recent years is remarkable.
The lefthander, now 37, hardly resembles the pitcher who took the mound that night in Cincinnati. That pitcher, with a fastball that consistently reached the mid-to-high 90s, routinely blew hitters away.
It has been years since Sabathia pitched with that kind of velocity, and he had a mostly rocky road in adjusting. It finally seemed to come together last season as he went 14-5 with a 3.69 ERA, his lowest ERA since 2012, when it was 3.38.
“Like I’ve always said, it is what it is,” Sabathia said of his fastball velocity, which only occasionally surpasses 90 mph now. “It’s not coming back, so I had to figure out how to get guys out with what I’ve got.”
What Sabathia has, catcher Austin Romine said, are “three pitches he can throw any time,” including a slider that at times is super-nasty. Sabathia, in his exhibition debut Thursday against the Phillies, recorded all three of his strikeouts with the pitch in two scoreless innings.
“For me, it’s just like sitting in a rocking chair waiting for him to hit my glove,” Romine said.
Sabathia, who signed a one-year, $10-million deal to stay with the Yankees, said he doesn’t miss pitching with the velocity he used to have.
“It [more velocity] allowed me not to be able to think when I was out there, not having to think my way through the games,” he said. “I like where I’m at now. That sounds weird, but I do.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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