Before the season, the battle for the Yankees' third base job included notable names like DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera, but prospect Jorbit Vivas was also in consideration.
And although he didn't break camp with the team, he finally got to make his MLB debut a little over a month into the 2025 season. Despite it coming due to Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s injury, manager Aaron Boone was confident the 24-year-old could handle big league pitching, and started him Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The left-hander didn't get a hit, but reached base twice on walks and scored on Paul Goldschmidt's three-run bomb in the Yankees' eventual win.
"[Tonight was] definitely something that I was expecting for a long time," Vivas said through an interpreter after the game. "And finally got the opportunity. Very excited about that and happy for my family too, I'm sure that they're watching back home. Good day."
The Venezuelan native was impressive in Triple-A this season, slashing .319/.426/.436 with seven extra-base hits, including two home runs, 15 RBI, and an .862 OPS in 26 games. He was impressive last spring after he came over from the Dodgers along with LHP Victor Gonzalez in the Trey Sweeney deal in December. 2023, but with a logjam in the infield, Vivas would have to wait for his moment, and it came.
Despite being up with the team a few times, he never actually got into a game until Friday. The 5-foot-9 infielder said there were some nerves, especially with 45 thousand-plus fans in attendance, but he got through it, especially when the first pitch thrown from Max Fried wound up being a grounder right to him.
"Wow. You know immediately, right? First hit in the game, right at me. I did it, I did it correctly. And then immediately after that, I was like, 'okay. Let me slow down a little bit here.'"
Vivas finished that routine grounder and made every defensive play available to him on Friday, but he was also impressive at the plate. He didn't get a hit, but walked twice and the Yankees skipper was impressed by all three at-bats from the youngster.
"The last couple [of at-bats], two walks were excellent," Boone said. "I thought the first at-bat where he punched out, I thought he put together a really good at-bat. Got beat with a good heater in the end, but I thought quality at-bats down there all night."
His first at-bat saw him foul tip a ball into the catcher's glove on a 97 mph fastball from Ryan Pepiot. He then walked on four pitches, all out of the zone, in his second at-bat, but it was his final at-bat that was really impressive. Vivas got behind 0-2, but then showed his understanding of the strikezone, taking four straight pitches for balls and taking his walk.
"The plan was just to look for a good pitch, and make good contact," Vivas said of his approach. "If I didn't get a good pitch to hit, I was just gonna let it go by. I'm used to that. That's what I wanted to do, I didn't get one there to hit."
Perhaps Vivas will pick up his first major league hit sooner rather than later. Boone said before the game that he expects Vivas to "play a lot" while Chisholm is down with injury.
We'll see what Saturday brings.
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