Jose Caballero pitch clock controversy with Yankees takes turn as MLB makes up nonsense

Two days after the Yankees and Pirates nearly came to blows over Jose Caballero's approach in the batter's box, it almost happened again ... just this time between the Yankees and the umpires. Home plate ump Quinn Walcott made an enemy of Yankees fans on Wednesday afternoon.

During Caballero's at-bat in the sixth inning as he faced an 0-1 count, Walcott called a timeout and penalized Caballero with an automatic strike for ... we have no idea. Walcott just seemed fed up with Caballero's approach.

Upon further review, Caballero did nothing wrong. He engaged with the pitcher right with the pitch clock still at nine seconds (and, as we know from all the drama this season, the magic number is eight).

The YES Network hot mics caught some colorful NSFW language and Caballero and manager Aaron Boone jawed with Walcott. Eventually, hitting coach James Rowson was ejected as he was seen losing his mind in the dugout, but we're not sure what happened there.

MLB making up rules on the fly to disrupt Yankees' Jose Caballero

Walcott could be heard saying "you don't get to do the 3 or 4 seconds in the box anymore" as Caballero responded "you're picking on me." Again, call Caballero's approaching "annoying" all you want. We get it. But he's not breaking the rules. He's permitted the time as a batter until the league states otherwise.

Well — wait a minute — it appears they did! After the game, chief crew Adrian Johnson revealed some telling information from MLB.

Just throwing out violations for fun now? Ok then! Now, as Jack Curry noted in the YES postgame show, there is a rule that states if the batter is deliberately trying to deceive the pitcher or does anything drastic to throw off their timing, the home plate umpire can make a subjective ruling and issue a violation. But that's not the case. We noted previously that Caballero has been doing this, in the same exact manner, since 2023. Nothing's changed, except for the story blowing up once he became a Yankee.

That's been the root of Caballero's frustration as different umpires have different interpretations for his actions despite the rule stating the batter must engage with the pitcher by the time the pitch clock reaches eight seconds. It seems as if certain umpires simply don't like it and make their ruling based off their impatience because there is nothing that Caballero does that can be characterized as deceitful.

It all just makes no sense because there are plenty of pitchers who stand around and wait until the last possible second to throw a pitch, and they're never disciplined for that. Just because it's the "pitch clock" doesn't mean it's only for pitchers. Hitters have a window to dictate the pace as well.

It's just another reason for the national audience to hate the Yankees. Nothing new. Carry on. At least it's a whole lot better than the Caballero-Anthony Volpe debate we suffered through for months. Glad that's over.

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