Convincing My Father On The Yankees Youth-Driven Rebuild

By Mike Calendrillo |

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday afternoon, my father and I took in our annual Yankees Spring Training game. Little did I know that during the course of nine innings, I’d convince my father that the club’s youth-driven rebuild was for the best.

My father has been watching the Yankees since the early 1960s. Back then, he and his friends would take the first train in from Brooklyn, readying themselves to marvel at Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Whitey Ford.

Dad’s lived through six decades of Yankees baseball, most of it winning. So it’s understandable that his generation, the Baby Boomers, can’t quite grasp this new fangled concept of saving money by grooming minor league prospects. Or so I thought, until yesterday.

My dad is a student of the game. He forgot more about baseball than most people will know in a lifetime. So it’s safe to say I had one hell of a teacher when it came to understanding the finer points of our national pastime.

Dad always says consistency in life (much like in baseball) is the key to greatness. He loves small ball, the lost art of bunting, stealing bases, great defense and shut down closers.

He is a big proponent of loyalty, camaraderie, and playing the game with passion. It’s probably why the high school and travel baseball teams that he coached were so good. Even though we may have lacked the overall talent of some other clubs, Coach Mike always got the very best out of us, no matter what.

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All this is directly tied into why you should never try to convince him that trading away Andrew Miller was the right move. Dad’s not blind to the fact that the Yankees were a stale organization up until the midway point of last season, it’s just that he adored Miller’s fiery competitiveness, the fact that the lean lefty loved playing in New York, and had no problem pitching whenever he was called upon.

As we took in our yearly tradition of a Yankees Spring Training game from Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, FL, we did our usual banter about all the things that unfolded on the field — which started off by a surprising leadoff home run by Brett Gardner.

We watched Jacoby Ellsbury go 3-3 (two of the singles were bloopers), but we spoke fondly how he successfully stole two bases and why we wished Ellsbury would stay healthy long enough to do even a bit of this during the regular season.

FYI, Aaron Judge is bigger in person than you can even imagine. Judge ripped a one bouncer to the third baseman that No. 99 (not Judge, the 3B) did all he could to get out-of-the-way from.

Multiple times we were disgusted by Chris Carter‘s inept ability to drive home runners in scoring position. I mean, if Carter is going to whiff against lefties (as he did on Thursday) just as much as he does against righties, where is his upside?

Aaron Hicks looked steady, slashing a double to left field, and making a couple nice plays on defense.

The 6th inning was when things really got interesting. The Yanks were actually trailing by one at the time until a pair of infield bunt singles got the rally started — first by Ruben Tejada (who outplayed fellow utility infielder Ronald Torreyes), and then Tyler Wade who showed great hustle and a solid glove at second base.

Since last summer’s Miller trade, I’ve been talking up Clint Frazier to my pops. I’ve told him all about the comparisons to Mike Trout — Frazier’s “legendary” bat speed, and why the club is so high on him. BTW, Trout is probably my dad’s favorite current player, so it’s been an uphill battle.

Frazier did his part to show some baseball acumen, though, grounding out to the right side with a man on third and less than two outs to pick up the RBI.

When Ben Heller came in relief, Dad told me he watched Heller light up the radar gun just the other day, and how he got out of an inning in just 14 pitches. On this day, Heller wasn’t quite as sharp, but he did flash his electric fastball while getting bailed out by a diving catch in right field by Judge. I was quick to remind Dad that Heller too, was part of the Miller trade.

Gleyber Torres was on full display, as he lined a double to right field for a RBI — although as Dad pointed out, had Torres not stood at home plate marveling at his shot, he could have easily ended up on third. In his next at-bat — as I highlighted all the reasons why Torres was the prize acquisition in the Aroldis Chapman deal, Torres went down swinging badly on a pitch in the dirt. Dad just grinned.

But the one young player that set the tone for the day was Dustin Fowler. If you regularly read my articles, then you know I’m all about this kid taking over centerfield sooner rather than later.

Once again, Fowler was outstanding. Offensively, the 22-year-old from Cadwell, GA, walked in a run with the bases loaded and later hit a rope down the right field line. Fowler alertly picked up third base coach Joe Espada and turned on the jets around second base for a triple.

Defensively, the kid is flat-out smooth. In the 9th inning, with only a one run lead to the Yankees’ name, Fowler first came galloping in to make a bending grab between second and center, before moments later running to the warning track to snag a ball up against the fence. Frazier put the game to bed making a nice grab of his own soon after.

A couple of older gentleman sitting in front of us, with whom my father had been chatting with during the game turned around to give us fist bumps. Though they weren’t Yankees fans, my father was quick to point out ‘Those two kids (Fowler and Frazier) are the future of our outfield.’

And there it was. All my hard work had finally paid off. I officially got my father to admit this team is headed in the right direction!

As we walked back to the car we speculated how good his new faves would look along the other young players that didn’t suit up on Thursday (Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Miguel Andujar).

Next: Refsnyder Hindsight is 20/20

Until next season’s father-son Spring Training game, we’ll have plenty to recount about witnessing some of the Baby Bombers in action. It was a great day, and maybe just maybe, I actually taught my dad something he didn’t already know.

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