{"id":676729,"date":"2026-04-16T04:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676729\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T04:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:54:21","slug":"yankees-walk-off-hero-jose-caballero-living-for-the-clutch-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676729\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees walk-off hero Jos\u00e9 Caballero ‘living for’ the clutch moments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jos\u00e9 Caballero didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cAlways,\u201d he said, when asked if he longed for clutch at-bats his entire career. He wanted the pressure-filled swings. The big moments of games, like the one Wednesday night, when his walk-off double less than an hour before his answer lifted the Yankees to a 5-4 victory<\/a> over the Angels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the at-bats that I want,\u201d Caballero said. \u201cI\u2019m living for those at-bats. I want those at-bats every time I step in the box.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the Los Angeles series began Monday, he doubled in the ninth and scored the winning run during the Yankees walk-off victory<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Two nights later, he helped play hero again with his extra-base hit, allowing both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells to score. <\/p>\n

Caballero, in the middle of a shrinking window to steal the Yankees starting shortstop job before Anthony Volpe returns, moved to .400 with two doubles and six RBIs with runners in scoring position this year. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s driven in seven runs across the past five games, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It likely won\u2019t be enough to hold off Volpe, who received a public endorsement from general manager Brian Cashman last week<\/a> in Tampa and started his rehab assignment Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Caballero, outside of the clutch spots, has struggled, hitting just .186 for the year overall with a .543 OPS.<\/p>\n

\"NewJos\u00e9 Caballero rips a game-winning two-run double during the ninth inning of the Yankees\u2019 5-4 comeback win over the Angels on April 15, 2026 at the Stadium. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

But with Volpe\u2019s return looming, Caballero continued to make his case with the game-deciding hit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loves the action,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said, \u201cand, as I\u2019ve told you, he\u2019s really confident. That\u2019s one of his biggest strengths, is he thinks he\u2019s the best player on the field \u2014 and that\u2019s an important thing to have and play the game with. It does seem like the bigger the stakes, the more he\u2019s able to dig in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So there was Caballero, who also walked and scored the third Yankees run in the second inning in a 1-for-3 night, on the receiving end of a Gatorade cooler dump postgame. <\/p>\n

There was Caballero, one day after Volpe played five innings for Double-A Somerset and struck out twice, delivering strong defense again and then adding to it at the plate in the final moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was always his opportunity, with Volpe, who struggled last season, sidelined to start the year due to a shoulder injury. If he was ever going to snag the starting shortstop job, it needed to happen before May. <\/p>\n

Two clutch at-bats in three days won\u2019t change what happened before this Angels series began. Caballero\u2019s average hasn\u2019t topped .200 since April. He recorded four hits in four games to start the year but just seven in the 13 since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewAaron Judge douses Jos\u00e9 Caballero with water after he hit the game-winning two-run double in the Yankees\u2019 comeback win over the Angels. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

But even when Volpe returns, Caballero could still provide value for the Yankees off the bench. <\/p>\n

His at-bat in the ninth Wednesday \u2014 and his swing on the 1-2 slider from Angels closer Jordan Romano that left the bat at 100.7 mph, dropped into left-center field and changed everything for one night \u2014 served as the latest example.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to contribute to the team,\u201d Caballero said, \u201cand I did it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Caballero didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cAlways,\u201d he said, when asked if he longed for clutch at-bats his entire career.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,56,4,1690,62,2548,2547,185,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-676729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-los-angeles-angels","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-yankees","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkyankees","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116412603623162579","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}