Tough to get a pitch past Bichette
Dante Bichette, Jr. during an at-bat at the 2010 Under Armour All-American Game at Wrigley Field. (Aug. 14, 2010) Credit: Damen Jackson/Icon SMI
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Yankees prospect Dante Bichette Jr., 19, the team's first-round draft pick last June, made quite an impression Saturday.
In his first two at-bats of spring training, he hit two home runs. On the only two pitches he saw.
And he did it 20 minutes from home, with his father, former major-leaguer Dante Bichette Sr. -- one of Joe Girardi's best friends -- his mother, Mariana, and his brother, Bo, 14, in attendance. "It was kind of surreal," Bichette Jr. said.
Bichette homered off Ruben Alaniz on the first pitch of the sixth and off Brandon Lyon in the eighth, a pitch after Jose Gil homered to begin the inning.
Bichette was named the Gulf Coast League MVP last season after hitting .342 with a .446 on-base percentage and .505 slugging percentage.
Girardi, close to the entire family, called the afternoon "pretty special." Mariana was much less restrained on Twitter. "Omgosh HOMERUN for D!!!!!!!!! Thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!!" she wrote. And that was just after the first homer.
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