New York Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero found himself in another disagreement with umpires Saturday night, this time on a defensive play against the Philadelphia Phillies.
In the bottom of the fourth inning with one out and runners on first and second, Caballero appeared to make a diving catch on a line drive hit by Bryson Stott. However, umpire Brennan Miller ruled that Caballero intentionally dropped the ball. As a result, only Stott was retired, and the runners remained on base. The inning concluded when pitcher Ryan Weathers struck out Derek Hill to preserve a 1-1 tie.
This incident follows a separate controversy earlier in the week concerning MLB's pitch clock rules. Caballero had employed a tactic of waiting until the final seconds before engaging with the pitcher. On Wednesday, he was called for a violation despite being aware of the eight-second cutoff, as he spent the final seconds looking down. Major League Baseball had recently begun restricting hitters from attempting to "deceive a pitcher into beginning their windup or coming to the set position."
Caballero and Yankees manager Aaron Boone spoke with MLB regarding the new interpretation of the rule, but their concerns were not addressed. "They [the league] are above and they control everything," Caballero said Friday. "We ain’t figuring this out. They say what they had to say. They’re the league, they control [things]. I just have to obey."