Yankees' Aaron Boone Must Find a Way to Give Jose Caballero a Bigger Role Again

It's time to make José Caballero the starting shortstop for the Yankees again.

José Caballero deserves more love than he's been receiving from Yankees manager Aaron Boone's lineup planning. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Yankees walked out of Cleveland with their heads held high. They took their revenge after losing to their longtime American League rival the week before, and did so in convincing fashion. The Yankees swept the Guardians on their home turf, but for as happy as that plane ride up to Canada may have been, things almost got ugly.

Early on, with José Caballero in right field, he and Trent Grisham collided on a fly ball on Wednesday. Caballero, who, despite spending time in the outfield with the Rays, had seldom been used that way with the Yankees. A little rust out there almost became something that could have been catastrophic, where, in one fell swoop, the organization nearly lost the best shortstop option they have on the roster, and a surging Grisham, who has been crushing the ball since May.

José Caballero's recent outfield collision with Trent Grisham is enough reason for the Yankees to keep him at shortstop. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

If there was ever a sign that manager Aaron Boone needs to rethink what they're doing as far as Caballero roving around the infield and outfield goes, that near-wreck should be it. The fact is, Anthony Volpe is not good enough for Caballero to be forced into things he hasn't done all year.

Yankees need moe Jose Caballero, less Anthony Volpe at shortstop

Not long after Caballero and Grisham nearly ran into each other, Volpe threw a ball to first base that hopped right by Ben Rice, ricocheting off a fence. Had it not been for that ricochet, the runner would have easily been at second.

Volpe later had an RBI, but his troubles at short have been on full display, and things don't look like they have gotten better from last year. His arm looks like it has actually gotten weaker, and the defensive metrics show that as well.

He's averaging 80.1 mph on throws. That's down from last year, when, with a shoulder injury, he was averaging 81.9 mph.

Statistically, he has plus-1 outs above average, but anyone watching can see he doesn't have the strength to consistently get balls to first, and he's still making as many mistakes as he did last year. In the second game of that series against Cleveland, a ball completely ate him up, and it got right behind him and slowly rolled into the outfield.

"Volpe got eaten alive by that one" pic.twitter.com/9hZ8gJpWF7

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) June 9, 2026

A few days before that, against Boston, he sailed a throw home. It eventually allowed Ceddanne Rafaela to score.

It's not to say that Caballero won't make those mistakes. He's made his fair share of errors, and this year, his arm strength is slightly better than Volpe's. He has an 81.1 mph average arm strength, according to Baseball Savant. He's also been a neutral defender at short. He has an even outs above average.

What Caballero does better than Volpe, though, is offer stability at the position. No, he's not the long-term answer, but he's at least better than Volpe is, and at this point, a guy like Max Schuemann, who was a castoff for a very bad Athletics team, could be as well. He could even be a better option at short at this point.

Once Jasson Domínguez comes back, the best thing the Yankees can do is option Volpe again and have Caballero return to playing shortstop. If this means having both Domínguez and Jones on the roster at once, then so be it. The Volpe thing isn't working out right now. It's not to say that he'll be as bad as he is now forever. It's just shown no results so far, and it's been getting uglier for Volpe.