Yankees Missed At-Bat of the Week: Jose Trevino (6/22)

For the first half of 2022, we saw the best version of Jose Trevino we might ever see. To no surprise, his defense as elite. But to a huge surprise, he put together a 103 wRC+ in the first half and was without question the most valuable catcher in baseball. That performance earned him his first All-Star selection of his career and gave Yankees’ fans hope for what seemed to be a doomed position for the foreseeable future.

Trevino didn’t seem to make any glaring mechanical changes from his time in Texas. Instead, it seemed that he simply just improved as a hitter while in a full-time role. During Trevino’s great stretch of hitting, he had a handful of home runs straight down the left field line that made me realize he actually has some juice in his bat! Although it was most likely a coincidence, most of Trevino’s home runs came in clutch time. That enamored him with Yankees universe. For this week’s segment of the Missed At-Bat of the Week, I’m going to cover one of those clutch home runs that came against Tampa Bay while the Yankees were trailing by one with a man on first in the eighth inning.

Pitch 1

Ralph Garza Jr. started this at-bat off with a sinker at the top of the zone. It’s pretty weird to see a pitcher from this arm slot intentionally target the top of the zone like this, but with Trevino’s extremely flat bat path, it’s a tough plane for him to match. Solid 0-0 pitch that demonstrated a sound plan from Garza Jr.

Pitch 2

It’s probably extremely difficult to command the glove side of the plate throwing like this. You need to have the right release that will allow the pitch to run back over the outer third, but you have to balance that with either pulling too hard and spiking the pitch, or not pulling hard enough and letting it run right into a hitter’s barrel. I guess that’s what make these guys big leaguers though. Anyways, this was a miss and it led to a 1-1 count.

Pitch 3

What a phenomenal take from Trevino here. He tracked the pitch’s movement all the way into the glove as it swept across the zone while tempting the Yankees’ backstop. Trevino dug his front foot in the ground to stay anchored and hold up his barrel from flying. Very nice job to get a 2-1 advantage count.

Pitch 4

This is an extremely dangerous pitch by Garza Jr. Yes, this slider has plenty of glove side movement to it, but oh goodness, at the top of the zone like this, you’re playing with fire. I say that for the same reason as to why the first sinker at the top of the zone was a good pitch. Trevino’s flat swing plays very well at the top of the zone with pitches that stay in this vertical plane like the side arm slider. If this is just a hair closer to the middle of the plate, it’s an easy barrel for Trevino. If I’m Garza Jr., there is no chance I go back to this pitch on the 2-2 count.

Pitch 5

Risky decision with much better execution than the previous pitch. With this location, it’ll take Trevino dropping his back hip and shoulder to get on plane. The best case scenario for No. 39 would have been a soft groundball. Similar to the 1-1 pitch, he tracks it the entire way and lets the pitch move out of the zone. I’m sure the Rays’ battery wanted this call, but too bad, because it’s a ball. On the 3-2 count with a pitch to contact guy on the mound, expect the runner to take off to give the Yanks a chance to tie it up with a ball in the gap.

Pitch 6

Well that runner can keep on moving because Trevino sent this one a long way over the fence — 406 feet to be exact. Garza continued to play with fire and threw this flat slider perfectly in to Trevino’s barrel. To be frank, this was an awful matchup for Garza Jr. Of all the hitters on the Yankees, Trevino was best suited to barrel up the slider! Kudos to Trevino for staying disciplined in the at-bat until he got a pitch he could damage. Great piece of hitting that came about from solid pitch selection.