Jon Heyman Has Had Enough of Jose Caballero’s Pitch Clock Games

Jose Caballero is doing something at the plate that is driving pitchers crazy. And apparently it’s driving MLB insider Jon Heyman crazy too.

The Yankees utility infielder has found a crack in the pitch clock rule, and he’s exploiting it every chance he gets. The rule says batters need to be ready by the time the clock hits eight seconds. After that, the pitcher can start his delivery anytime. But here’s the thing: Caballero waits until the very last possible moment to look up and engage with the pitcher. He stands there, not ready, until the clock is about to hit zero. Then he snaps his head up and sets.

It works because if the pitcher comes set before that eight-second mark and before Caballero is looking at him, the umpire can call a pitch clock violation on the pitcher. That’s a ball. And it’s happening often enough that people are noticing.

Jomboy broke it all down on video last week, showing exactly how Caballero is gaming the system. The clip went viral pretty fast.

Heyman Sounds Off

Jon Heyman took to X to vent about it. He basically said enough is enough. He acknowledged that Caballero found a loophole and good for him, but he questioned what the point is. To annoy pitchers and maybe get a violation once a month? Heyman said it’s annoying a lot more people than just the pitcher now.

The frustration isn’t just coming from the media either. The Yankees and Pirates had a benches-clearing incident recently after some of Caballero’s antics at the plate boiled over. Guys were yelling, both benches emptied, and it took a minute to calm things down.

It’s not hard to see why pitchers get frustrated. They’re working on a tight clock already. They have to deliver the ball within 15 seconds with nobody on base and 20 seconds with runners on. If they have to also wait on a batter who is intentionally not looking at them until the last second, it messes with their rhythm. Some pitchers have even complained that it feels like the batter is getting a free timeout without asking for one.

Will MLB Actually Change the Rule?

The pitch clock is still relatively new. The league introduced it in 2023 to speed up games, and it worked. Games got shorter. But now players are finding ways to use the rules against each other. Caballero’s approach is basically a legal way to throw off the pitcher’s timing, and the league might not love that.

MLB has shown they are willing to tweak things. They adjusted the clock rules midseason before on things like pickoff attempts. So it’s not crazy to think they could address this specific loophole if enough people complain. Heyman calling it out publicly might be a sign that the conversation is already happening inside the league offices.

For now, Caballero will probably keep doing it. It works. It gets in the pitcher’s head. And it’s technically within the rules. But the clock is ticking on how much longer that will be true.