How Yankees’ Isiah Kiner-Falefa looked in center field debut

LAKELAND, Fla. — The sound of Isiah Kiner-Falefa pounding his fist into the palm of his new outfielder’s glove echoed in the Yankees’ dugout. It was the only noise that could compete with the St. Patrick’s Day themed music that was blaring in Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium on Friday afternoon.

As much as Kiner-Falefa was nervous about his first in-game appearance in center field since 2017 — back when he was an unranked prospect playing for the Rangers’ Double-A affiliate — this wasn’t a nervous quirk.

IKF’s silver and black Rawlings glove simply wasn’t broken in.

“It’s not broken at all,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I got it two days ago. Before the game today I was catching balls at first base to try and break it in.”

Kiner-Falefa’s agent had used express shipping — or “panic” shipping, as IKF called it — to send a new glove to Yankees camp midway through this week. As soon as it arrived, IKF put it to the test, using it in drills at the Yankees’ spring facility as he prepared for his first in-game action at the position.

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Even after dropping a few balls on the back fields in Tampa, hearing fans voice their displeasure, the rigid glove helped IKF stick to his fundamentals.

“It makes me go to catch the ball in a better position,” he explained. “When I was [playing catcher], it was always if you drop a ball, it means your glove is not in the right spot. So I think the last couple days, I was putting my glove downwards and dropping the ball. Now, I made the adjustment with the stiff glove.”

Kiner-Falefa demonstrated with the glove in his left hand, pointing it straight up and down as he acted out a catch in front of his chest while standing beside his locker in the visitor’s clubhouse. Eventually, he rested the leather on his travel bag, sitting his newest accessory next to his Ol’ Reliable: the mitt he’s used in the infield for the last three-plus seasons. He referred to that discolored and malleable leather as his “Gold Glove,” the glove he used to secure some defensive hardware for his performance at third base with Texas during the pandemic-shortened season in 2020. It’s also the glove that Kiner-Falefa wore during his first season with the Yankees in 2022, a campaign in which the shortstop made 15 errors and got benched for his defense in the playoffs.

In Friday’s game against the Tigers, Kiner-Falefa was peppered with chances at his new position, making all the routine plays look easy. The bottom of the first inning started with back-to-back flyballs to center. Kiner-Falefa ended up making five putouts within the first seven outs of the game, an 8-7 loss in which right-hander Domingo Germán allowed seven earned runs and four home runs in 2 2/3 innings pitched.

“I had a lot of fun out there,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I felt like I got tested in every way today for the most part.”

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Kiner-Falefa even had a chance to throw toward home plate, showing off the improvements that he’s made in his arm strength.

That brings us to the mistakes, because Friday’s debut wasn’t perfect. IKF said that instead of firing a strike to cutoff man Billy McKinney close to home plate in the first — when Tigers first baseman Andre Lipcius looped an RBI single his way — he should’ve thrown to third base, preventing second baseman Nick Maton from advancing in scoring position.

Kiner-Falefa also took responsibility for the ball that landed between left fielder Aaron Hicks and shortstop Anthony Volpe in the third, admitting that he was incorrectly shaded toward right-center field rather than the shortstop side with Tigers third baseman Colt Keith at the plate. Hicks tried to run the ball down, calling Volpe off at the last second. He couldn’t make the catch, tumbling forward as Keith rounded the bases for a triple.

“That was probably my ball. I lined up on the wrong side,” said Kiner-Falefa, who misread his alignment on his positioning card. “That was the one time I messed up my alignment. That can’t happen in the real game.”

Minor miscues aside, Kiner-Falefa looked comfortable and smooth in center, just like manager Aaron Boone predicted. Between Kiner-Falefa, DJ LeMahieu and super utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera, the Yankees are loaded with versatility at the big-league level. That allows Boone and the coaching staff to give other position players days off and designated hitter days knowing that multiple assets are capable of popping over to different spots around the diamond on a daily basis.

“You see guys like Chris Taylor, Cabrera, Kiké [Hernández],” Kiner-Falefa said. “The good teams have multiple guys like that. It wasn’t just one guy.”

The 27-year-old will start at shortstop on Saturday in Dunedin, a test to see how he can bounce back and forth between different positions. He’s unsure when he’ll be back in the outfield, but Boone said that he’s going to try and get IKF to play everywhere moving forward, so look for him to get a start in the corners eventually as well.

Competing for playing time this spring, Kiner-Falefa has said that he’s willing to play anywhere as long as it gives him a chance to help this team win. Friday’s debut in center was a productive first step in solidifying some sort of utility role, a fallback plan if he isn’t selected to start at shortstop when the regular season begins. He understands that top prospects Volpe and Oswald Peraza are deserving of more playoff time and appears to be embracing this transition.

“He just wants to win and he wants to win in pinstripes,” Boone said. “It’s important to him. He’s worked really hard on his game, he’s a really good teammate. I think moving around is something that not only will serve us well, but he’s cut out for it.”