Switch hitter Oswaldo Cabrera bats lefthanded against a lefty in Yankees' loss to Pirates
Yankees' Oswaldo Cabrera, top, is greeted by Aaron Judge as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run off Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Thomas Hatch during the eighth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Credit: AP/Gene J. Puskar
PITTSBURGH — Why did switch hitter Oswaldo Cabrera bat lefthanded against lefthander Ryan Borucki in the seventh inning of the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Pirates on Sunday?
“I’ve been working on it in the cages,” said Cabrera, who struck out on a 2-and-2 breaking ball. “I’m feeling good at the plate lefty, so when I saw they changed the pitcher, I said, ‘I want to try this.’ ”
Cabrera said he got permission before the at-bat from “the hitting coach and Boonie,” meaning Sean Casey and Aaron Boone. “But it was my decision. They respect that and I appreciate that they respect that.”
Boone, though, said: “Probably with Borucki there, I probably would have preferred him to stay from the right side. But something that he’s been toying with in certain matchups, and I think just how good and well he’s seeing the ball from the left side right now, something we’ve been kicking around a little.”
Cabrera, a natural righthanded hitter who started switch hitting when he was 11, said he doesn’t plan to become a lefty-only swinger.
After going 0-for-3 on Sunday, Cabrera is 43-for-198 (.217) with two homers batting lefthanded and 12-for-54 (.222) with three homers batting righthanded.
After striking out Cabrera and getting pinch hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground out, Borucki has held lefties to a .167 average and righties to a .219 average in 2023.
Cabrera said he considered hitting lefthanded against reliever Jose Hernandez on Saturday, but he didn’t get to bat against the lefthander.
So on Sunday, Cabrera said, “I was like, ‘Why not? I have to try it. Why not?’ Like, what can happen? I never played first base and I played it. I never played centerfield and I played it. So why not?”
Montas makes rehab start
Forgotten Yankee Frankie Montas, who had missed the entire season after February shoulder surgery, made a surprise 2023 debut in a one-inning rehab start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday.
Montas, who will be a free agent after the season, gave up one run, one hit and one walk with two strikeouts.
The walk was to the first batter Montas faced, and it came on a manager’s challenge after the batter originally was called out on strikes on a 3-and-2 pitch. (That’s allowed in the minors.)
That Montas was progressing toward a rehab outing was news to most around the Yankees.
In his last update on Montas, on Aug. 28, Boone said: “He’s throwing bullpens, but [pitching for the Yankees this season] is probably not in the cards.”
The Yankees acquired the righthander from Oakland on Aug. 1, 2022, even though they knew he had a shoulder issue. Montas, 30, went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts before ending up on the injured list. He returned to make a one-inning relief appearance in Game 1 of the ALCS.
Misiewicz update
Yankees lefthander Anthony Misiewicz, who was hit in the head by a line drive and ended up in the hospital on Friday, visited the club at PNC Park on Saturday and “had a smile on his face and a pep in his step,” Boone said.
Misiewicz, who is on the seven-day concussion injured list, will get checked out by Yankees doctors this week.
Who’s your daddy?
Carlos Rodon’s wife, Ashley, shared a video on social media of one of the couple’s young children seeing Austin Wells on TV and saying, “Daddy, daddy.”
Rodon and Wells are two of the many mustachioed Yankees.
Boone said he never has trouble telling Rodon and Wells apart “because, to me, Austin Wells is the missing Jonas brother.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
