NEW YORK – In greater than a century’s price of postseason video games, there are solely a handful of gamers who've drawn a begin at a fielding place the place they'd no prior expertise, a membership that now consists of the Yankees’ Jon Berti.
With Anthony Rizzo unavailable attributable to harm and the Yankees searching for lineup stability towards Royals left-hander Cole Ragans, the right-handed-hitting Berti drew the beginning nod at first base towards the Royals in Monday’s Game 2 of the American League Division Series, marking his first profession begin at the place.
“I just feel like he kind of deserves to be in there,” supervisor Aaron Boone stated. “I feel like, if we’re going to go long in this, he’s going to play a big role for us. I feel like he’s had a really good week of work over there. He’s obviously a really talented infielder.”
Batting ninth in New York’s order, Berti is simply the fifth participant to make his first profession begin at a fielding place (excluding pitcher and designated hitter) in the postseason (min. 100 common season video games).
The final to do it was Carlos Santana, who began Game 3 of the 2016 World Series in left area for Cleveland.
Others embody Patsy Dougherty (1903 World Series Game 8, proper area), Jake Flowers (1931 World Series Game 2, third base) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001 ALCS Game 5, left area). Only Berti, Dougherty and Ichiro had no prior Major League expertise at the place.
“He’s really looked the part in a lot of the work he’s done over there all week long,” Boone stated. (*2*)
When Rizzo was hit by a pitch on Sept. 27 towards the Pirates, fracturing two fingers on his proper hand, the Yankees scrambled for fill-in choices at first base. They recalled Ben Rice from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the following day, and Oswaldo Cabrera began Saturday’s ALDS Game 1 towards Kansas City.
The left-handed-hitting Rice was strongly thought-about for the Game 2 begin, with Boone weighing Ragans’ repute as a pitcher with reverse splits. Though Cabrera is a switch-hitter, he has struggled towards lefties and certain would have hit left-handed towards Ragans.
That led Boone to choose Berti, who has been spending the final week-plus in a crash course at the place.
Rizzo has been useful in that regard; on a Zoom name Sunday, Cabrera stated the Yanks infielders “are like the students and he’s like our Mr. Miyagi,” referencing the 1984 motion film The Karate Kid.
“I feel good about him in the way I feel good about Cabrera,” Boone stated of Berti.
Acquired from the Marlins in a three-team swap this previous March, when the Yanks despatched catcher Ben Rortvedt to the Rays and outfielder John Cruz to Miami, Berti was restricted to only 25 video games this season attributable to a left calf pressure that he sustained in late May.
Berti compiled a .273/.342/.318 slash line in these contests, with a house run, six RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He appeared defensively at third base (18 video games, 17 begins), second base (two video games, one begin), and left area (one sport).
“If you look at the bottom of our lineup tonight, there’s a dynamic of speed, bat-to-ball [ability] and that can do some things,” Boone stated. “I just feel like this made a lot of sense.”
