AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS RAYS

October 7, 2026

Aaron Boone

Yankee Stadium

New York Yankees

Pregame 3 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Aaron.

Q. Aaron, you had mentioned the other day that you might shake things up, try to get the offense going a little bit as well as the defense tightened up.

Ultimately what went into your decision with Volpe at second base and Caballero at third?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. Two guys that have been an important part of our team this year, that have played important roles, that played a lot for us, and a lot of confidence in what they bring to the table.

So just kind of felt like thinking about it on the plane ride home, kind of made my decision there, and then just stewed through the lineup yesterday. And yeah, hopefully excited to get those guys in and hopefully it will be a little spark for us.

Q. You also have Trent Grisham leading off tonight. Ultimately why did you go with him?

AARON BOONE: Just the potential of the on base there and trying to get some traffic created for Benny and Garcia and Belly there, and considered it a lot of different ways. When Trent's at his best, obviously he's got that ability to get on.

Q. With the exception of Ben Rice and Wells, this team has not hit. How concerned are you with the fact heading into tonight?

AARON BOONE: I mean, it is two games. Obviously we're going to have to swing the bat better if we're going to keep the series going.

I feel like Belly has had some good at-bats and feel like there's a number of guys more than capable of getting it going, and certainly we gotta do some of that tonight.

Q. Aaron, what challenges does Nick Martinez present and what will, I guess, tell you if your guys are locked in against him?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. He's had a great year for them, really good changeup. It's a unique pitch. It's a different kind of changeup, real slow. Real good arm action with it. Uses a couple of different fastballs against guys.

It is that changeup that is the really good pitch for him. If you are going to hit that pitch, it is the ball you've gotta get elevated in the strike zone a little bit.

But we've obviously faced him a couple of times this year, and he's been a big reason why they're here, and they had the kind of year is because they've had guys like him really step up and be staples in their rotation. So hopefully we can get to him tonight.

Q. Was the Volpe change, was that for defense, the spark, because Jazz really hasn't sat versus righties?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, just spark again. I think Anthony has played well since coming up at the end of the year. Both sides of the ball, he's done a good job.

So, yeah, felt like made some sense to get him in there tonight, a few more righties at least in the lineup tonight, give a little more balance.

Look, post game and sitting on the plane, I just felt like that's the way I wanted to go with him and Cabby.

Q. How did Jazz take it because that is a switch for him?

AARON BOONE: Look, he's ready to go. As I talked to these guys before the series, it's going to take all of us. And Jazz might be the most important guy on the field tonight.

Just because you're not in the starting lineup doesn't mean you're not going to be the central figure. And just came out of the hitters' meeting, and those guys are dialed in and ready to go and ready to try and go out and play a good game and push this thing to tomorrow.

Q. You were critical of the team's performance in game two, fairly so. What do you think of the criticism that they weren't ready, that there was a readiness issue?

AARON BOONE: We were ready. I mean, I actually said to someone after our pregame, I was like, man, we look really crisp tonight, and obviously went out and had a rough first inning, but this group is ready to go.

Q. In general, with the ABS challenges in the postseason, we've seen teams in the playoffs use them early and maybe not so smartly. And in LA, Roberts said, like, Pages cannot use it.

Have you had those kind of discussions with your players about using it differently, being maybe not as aggressive with it?

AARON BOONE: Look, we've talked about it all year. I mean, try and just educate guys and get guys up to speed. Some guys have been better than others. It's been more natural than others.

As I've talked about a lot, I think it's one of those things that it's a new muscle for these guys to instinctually have. So I think if this is the route we go for the next few years, guys will get more and more instinctually. You have instincts for the game all the time.

This is a new one. And some guys have been really good and really adept at it early on. Other guys have been more of a work in progress. Some guys have struggled with it. I've had different conversations with different guys around different situations.

I haven't gone as far as to say you're not allowed to challenge because I don't want to take that away from somebody. But guys that have struggled with it a little bit, conversation is a little bit different.

Q. Is Carlos Rodón available out of the bullpen?

AARON BOONE: We'll see. We'll see.

Q. Along the same lines, is Cole available tonight, and are you planning on using him at some point?

AARON BOONE: Potentially. We'll see. We'll see. We'll meet with the pitching group here in a couple hours and decide who we want to make available for how much and all those things.

Q. How would you describe the different ways that a guy like Cabarello might have an impact on a game tonight?

AARON BOONE: Yeah. A lot of ways. Obviously an excellent defender, wherever you put him. The one thing I always say about José, he plays the game with a ton of confidence. Like there will be a lot of really good players out there playing tonight, Cabby included, and he's as confident as any of them.

He's played a big role for us all season, actually going back to when we got him at the deadline last year. He's an important part of this team, but I know one thing, he'll walk out there with a lot of confidence tonight, and hopefully that serves him and us well in pushing this to tomorrow.