Yankees’ José Caballero says MLB is ‘picking on me’ with pitch clock enforcement change

NEW YORK — Tensions flared again around New York Yankees shortstop José Caballero as umpires made it clear Wednesday that Major League Baseball will no longer tolerate his controversial stall tactics in the batter’s box.

After Caballero was issued an automatic strike — without a customary warning — Caballero and manager Aaron Boone engaged in heated, expletive-laden arguments with umpires during the fifth inning of a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.

Caught on YES Network hot mics, Caballero accused home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott of “singling” him out, and Boone called the decision “bulls—” after Wolcott gave Caballero an automatic strike for waiting until eight seconds remained on the pitch clock — the last possible second allowed by the rules — to acknowledge reliever Carmen Mlodzinski.

But crew chief Adrian Johnson said Caballero had “circumvented the pitch clock rules,” and pointed to the benches clearing in Monday’s Yankees-Pirates game, with Caballero’s pre-pitch routine at the center of the incident.

That night, Pirates reliever Dennis Santana blew kisses at Caballero and yelled at him for waiting until the pitch clock hit eight seconds before acknowledging him. Caballero and Santana exchanged words before teammates stormed the field and held each of them back, though no punches were thrown.

“It’s not allowed anymore,” Johnson said. “It was the cause of a benches-clearing situation on Monday night. Major League Baseball stepped in. They want it enforced.”

Johnson said MLB informed his crew to enforce a particular part of the rule that warns against “conduct by batters designed to deceive a pitcher into beginning their windup or coming to the set position.”

The edict, Johnson said, was centered on Caballero, who has become notorious for intentionally waiting as long as possible to make eye contact with the pitcher.

Boone, however, said the Yankees weren’t told of a change of enforcement. He called MLB’s actions “embarrassing.”

“They didn’t give us a heads up,” he said.

The pitch clock is 15 seconds with the bases empty, and 18 seconds with runners on base. Batters must engage with the pitcher at eight seconds or they will be penalized with a strike. If a pitcher doesn’t engage with the hitter at eight seconds, he gets charged with a ball.

MLB declined to comment when asked whether the Yankees were notified before Wednesday’s game about the league changing its enforcement of pitch-clock rules.

Caballero said he was still confused.

“I’ve seen other guys on other teams and they don’t call anything on them,” he said. “I can name players that I’ve seen deceiving the pitchers, (which) I actually don’t do, but they don’t call it on them. They just call it on me I guess. Like I said, they’re just picking on me.”

Caballero was surprised when Wolcott issued him an automatic strike in a 0-1 count with a runner on second base in the fifth inning with the Yankees losing 2-0.

Microphones captured a fiery back and forth between Wolcott and Caballero. Wolcott denied singling out Caballero, but pointed toward a change of rule enforcement.

“You’ve got to look up, man,” Wolcott told him. “You don’t get to do the 3-4 seconds thing in the box anymore. You don’t get to do that.”

“I’m doing my f—ing routine,” Caballero shouted back.

At one point, Boone told Johnson, “We’re making up rules as we go.”

Johnson then ejected Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, directing him off the field with a back-of-the-hand wave. Rowson leaned over dugout railing, pointing and yelling at Johnson.

Wolcott later said that Caballero is “trying to get the pitcher to cause a violation.

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

Why wasn’t Caballero warned first?

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

Boone defended Caballero, saying it’s “his routine” and cited how pitchers sometimes hold the baseball until there’s one second remaining on the pitch clock in an effort to disrupt a hitter’s timing.

“I wish I could find someone that I can talk to up there so we can get clear on what they’re trying to say on the new ruling,” Caballero said.