Andrew Velazquez starring in 'A Bronx Tale 2'
The Yankees' Andrew Velazquez grounds out in his major-league debut during the second inning of a game against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., on Monday. Credit: AP/Colin E. Braley
On Thursday, the Yankees are going to play the White Sox in Dyersville, Iowa, in the "Field of Dreams" game, which is based on a movie that is based on a book.
One Yankee is already playing on his own Field of Dreams. It’s 27-year-old Bronx-born infielder Andrew Velazquez, who found himself starting at shortstop for the second straight game on Tuesday night and went 1-for-4 with a double in the Yankees’ 8-4 loss to the Royals in Kansas City.
On Monday, Velazquez went 0-for-4 with a run. On Tuesday, the switch-hitter picked up his first hit as a Yankee in the third with a one-hop double to the centerfield wall off lefty Daniel Lynch.
Velazquez, who hit .283 with 26 stolen bases for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, then manufactured the Yankees’ first run with his legs. He moved to third on a deep fly to center and scored on a two-out wild pitch.
It was one of the few highlights on a night when the Yankees made four errors.
Velazquez dreamed of playing for the Yankees at Yankee Stadium when he was a kid. Ever since he saw (you guessed it) Derek Jeter on TV wearing the same uniform number Velazquez was given in T-ball.
"It was like my first T-ball game," he said. "I had No. 2 and I remember coming home after the game, sitting on my parents’ bed and watching the Yankee game, and I saw Derek Jeter come across the screen. But all I saw was No. 2. I’m like ‘Hey, that guy’s got my number.’ "
Velazquez probably doesn’t care what his number is (it’s 71) or what ballpark he plays in as long as it’s in the big leagues. This week, the Yankees will play at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, a specially-constructed stadium near a cornfield in Iowa, and the White Sox ballpark in Chicago.
They will return to the Bronx on Monday to face the Angels in a makeup game. If Velazquez is still on the roster — with infielders Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela both not close to returning from the injured list, that seems like a decent bet — you know he’ll have his own cheering section at Yankee Stadium.
He almost had one in Kansas City.
"My mom hit me up when I was activated," Velazquez said. "She said, ‘Hey, it’s a 17-hour drive.’ So they didn’t get a chance to make it out here, but hopefully when we get back to the stadium, though, they’ll be there for sure."
Only the die-hardest Yankees fans had heard of Velazquez before he was called up from the Scranton roster to replace the injured Torres, who sprained his thumb sliding on Sunday.
Actually, Velazquez was already with the Yankees as a member of their taxi squad. So there are no stories about a mad travel scramble to get from wherever Scranton was playing in time for Monday’s game in Kansas City.
Aaron Boone just tagged Velazquez in the clubhouse and he was it. Sort of how New York Giants manager John McGraw pointed a bony finger at Archie "Moonlight" Graham and barked "rightfield" in "Field of Dreams" . . .
But that was fantasy (and Moonlight never got to bat in the bigs, though he was a pretty good doctor).
For Velazquez, this is reality. And for Boone, it’s a necessity, since half his roster is on the injured or COVID lists.
"He’s having a really good year in Triple-A as a switch hitter, a guy that runs the bases extremely well, and is a really good defender at shortstop," Boone said before Velazquez’s debut. "I’m excited to have him here. And he’s here with the expectation of helping us continue to go out and win ballgames."
Tuesday’s game was Velazquez’s 70th in the majors since he made his debut with Tampa Bay in 2018. He has also played for Cleveland and Baltimore and signed with the Yankees as a minor league free agent this offseason.
Now, despite the long odds to even get back to the big leagues, the kid from the Bronx is making good.
Sounds like the start of a pretty good baseball movie.
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.
