Yankees miffed after umpires penalize José Caballero in latest pitch-clock drama

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Jul 22, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — It was another day of pitch-clock chaos involving José Caballero.

The New York Yankees were miffed after Wednesday’s umpire crew penalized Caballero with an automatic strike for allegedly trying to deceive a Pittsburgh Pirates reliever with his tactics in the batter’s box.

In the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Caballero dug in for a sixth-inning plate appearance and lifted his bat while continuing to look down for several seconds. He looked up with nine seconds left on the pitch clock — a typical cadence for Caballero at the plate.

MLB rules state a hitter must be in the batter’s box and alert to the pitcher once there’s eight seconds left on the pitch clock.

But the bylaws also state a hitter cannot intentionally deceive the pitcher, which Wednesday’s umpires accused Caballero of doing against Pirates reliever Carmen Mlodzinski during the Yankees’ 5-3 loss in the Bronx.

“It’s talking about when he gets in (the batter’s box), he’s not allowed an inordinate amount of time looking down, trying to get the pitcher to cause a violation,” home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott told a pool reporter afterward.

“There’s no other hitter that gets in the box (and) takes the amount of time that Caballero does while looking down and not making eye contact with the pitcher. Obviously, it’s caused a lot of problems in the past. It’s not going to be allowed anymore.”

The violation came two days after Pirates reliever Dennis Santana took issue with Caballero’s routine in the batter’s box, causing benches to clear in Monday night’s series-opening win by the Yankees.

Wednesday’s call created even more tension, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone came out to argue, and hitting coach James Rowson was ejected for yelling toward crew chief Adrian Johnson.

After the game, Boone remained frustrated, saying it was “embarrassing” nobody informed the Yankees beforehand that the umpires planned to enforce the rule differently.

“I’ve been told very specifically, over and over — when we have had issues, when I’ve had my conversations with the league — like, ‘He’s got to be alert at eight seconds.’ That’s making sure Cabby looks up at nine, just to make sure he’s in, and that’s very specifically what I’ve been told,” Boone said.

“Today was something different, and they didn’t give us the heads up.”

The umpires said they spoke with their bosses about Caballero before Wednesday’s doubleheader but that they didn’t know going into the game whether the league had communicated with the Yankees.

“He’s been warned all season,” Johnson said of Caballero. “We were instructed not to warn him. We were instructed to violate him. That’s what it is. It’s a violation.”

Caballero — who, in Toronto last month, was assessed an “intentional delay” warning over his pitch-clock engagement — said Wednesday that he isn’t trying to deceive pitchers.

“I’m not trying to trick someone, because I do the same thing over and over,” Caballero said.

“You can check my last 50 at-bats and see if I do it the same [way] or not. Check maybe 100 at-bats, or 150. If you’re gonna make a change from the rule, at least [notify] us before the game, not in the game like it happened today. It’s frustrating for me.”

Caballero said he felt the umpires were picking on him, contending he’s seen other players attempt to deceive pitchers but not get penalized.

“I have to find a different way to get settled, to change my routine, I guess, because they don’t like my routine,” Caballero said. “It just feels really bad. I don’t see it the way they see it.”

Clock causes balk

The Caballero situation wasn’t the only pitch-clock drama on Wednesday.

Gerrit Cole was called for a balk after the timer malfunctioned in the top of the sixth inning of Wednesday’s first game, throwing the Yankees’ ace off.

“They were not aware that the clock went off,” Cole said of the umpires. “It is my fault — I broke [my hands] and stepped off at the same time. I mean, I was startled that it was off. I was tracking the clock and holding the runner. And that is a balk, absolutely, but it was caused by some sort of malfunction.”

The situation led to a lengthy discussion between Cole, Boone and the umpires, but the balk call stood, resulting in a Pirates baserunner moving from first base to second with one out.

Cole ultimately escaped the jam unscathed.

“Great job by [catcher Austin] Wells there,” Cole said. “Said some really great things to kind of get me settled, and got out of it and it didn’t hurt us. But yeah man, it’s a tough break.”

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