Yankees At-Bat of the Week: Jorbit Vivas (5/18)

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21-05-2025

The first edition of the 2025 Subway Series is in the books and what a series we were treated to! Juan Soto's return to the Bronx may have been the main headline, but there was some hard-fought baseball played between two first-place clubs, the Yankees grinding out a deserved series win. Cody Bellinger capped off the rubber game with the dagger blow grand slam in the eighth, handing the Mets their heaviest loss of the season.
However, that moment does not happen if not for a less flashy but equally important moment earlier in the inning. Pinch-hitter Jorbit Vivas won an 11-pitch battle against the flame-throwing Ryne Stanek, an at-bat that Bellinger said '100 percent won [the Yankees] that game.' With that ringing endorsement, I thought we could break it down pitch by pitch on AB of the Week.
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We join Vivas with one out in the bottom of the eighth with the score knotted at 2-2. Jasson Domínguez drew an impressive leadoff walk and managed to advance to third on Austin Wells' one-out double. Stanek starts Vivas with a 100-mph four-seamer, and immediately the rookie infielder knows what he's up against.
Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a nasty pitch. This fastball starts about a foot off the plate in before tailing back across the inside black for a called first strike.
Now that he's got his aiming point for the fastball, Stanek goes right back to that spot up and in.
He replicates his execution from the first pitch and nails the same target. Vivas gets off a daddy hack looking to end the game with one swing. He's on time, but works underneath the baseball and fouls it back.
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In the span of about 40 seconds, Vivas finds himself in the hole, 0-2. That's a scary place to be against a reliever hurling triple digits.
Stanek goes right back to the well and uncorks his third straight 100 mph four-seamer. This one leaks out over the plate, but this time Vivas is late with the off-speed in the back of his mind in a strikeout scenario and he fouls it off to the left.
When you've got a pitcher with such effortless gas, you have to stay geared up for the fastball no matter the count. Stanek leverages this expectation by throwing his first off-speed pitch of the encounter hoping to catch Vivas out in front.
This in an impressive piece of hitting by Vivas to stay alive. He is indeed out in front of the splitter — frankly a perfect pitch low and away that would've been a called strike three on the corner had Vivas watched it go. Instead, Vivas is able to lag his bat head in the zone just long enough to top this ball into the dirt at home plate foul, living to fight another pitch.
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Now that he has planted the seed of off-speed with the previous splitter, Stanek looks to elevate a heater to blow Vivas away.
Fortunately for Vivas, this uncompetitive pitch sails way above the strike zone for an automatic take.
The count leverage still vastly favors Stanek, all he has to do is command the elevated heater a little closer to the top of the zone to entice Vivas to chase.
He does just that, but Vivas spits all over this pitch for ball two. It's a surprisingly mature take from a rookie on a pitch that was pretty close to the zone. However, we shouldn't be shocked — he may not make a lot of contact, but the one thing we've seen from Vivas in his short stint in the majors is a precise knowledge of the strike zone, and there's not even a flinch on a pitch that would've tempted many more experienced hitters to chase.
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Regardless, Stanek still believes he can get Vivas out by executing to the same spot.
Stanek hits 101 with this offering, but it's in the same location as ball one, and we even get a confident little nod from Vivas as he takes it for ball three.
That's three straight elite takes from Vivas to battle back from 0-2 to a full count. First base is open, so Stanek doesn't need to give in and groove one, maintaining the latitude to be precise to the edges with the heater.
Stanek once again reaches back for 101 and it's his best pitch of the AB, right on the corner up and in. However, Vivas is all over it timing-wise, fouling the elevated pitch back to the screen.
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At this point Stanek must be wondering what it will take to get this guy out. All he can do is stick with the heater hoping for a whiff or some weak contact.
Stanek has shown no trouble executing to that spot up and in — this is the fourth triple-digit heater of the AB he's gotten to that location. It's the same story from Vivas, another foul ball to add a little more fatigue to Stanek's arm and a little higher probability that he will get a mistake as the pitch count in the AB and inning climb.
However, Stanek has shown no sign that he's going to miss his spot over the heart of the plate, and he executes another pinpoint four-seamer right on the top shelf of the zone.
Once again, Vivas is right on time, happy to foul this pitch back to keep the AB going and hope for something a little easier to get on top of.
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It took eleven pitches, but Vivas finally gets a pitch he can put in play. Pretty much everything has been elevated or in on his hands — his perseverance is paid off with a belt-high four seamer that he can get his arms extended.
He rips the pitch to first, and for a terrifying split second it looks like the Yankees have botched yet another contact play leading to an out made at home. However, Pete Alonso yeets the ball well wide of the catcher as Domínguez slides across the plate as the go-ahead run. It's a classic case of putting pressure on the defense with a ball in play, and for once the baseball gods favor the Yankees.
Here's the full AB, minus the first pitch called strike:
Courtesy of Baseball Savant
After the game, Aaron Boone made a point of singling out this AB as the turning point of the contest.
'Vivas, what an AB, man... You could see his adjustment, like the third or fourth pitch in, you felt him settle in a little bit. You could tell he settled down. Some great takes, some great battles.
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Vivas echoed the words of his manager in his own post-game scrum.
'To be honest, I'm really just trying to make contact there and put the ball in play... He's throwing 100 miles (per hour). So I don't want to do too much, just help the team and out the ball in play.'
This is an awesome illustration of a mid-AB adjustment as well as an adjustment from his previous games. You can see how the viciousness of Vivas' swing gets reined in with each successive pitch. Whereas with the first two hacks he's swinging for the fences, by the middle of the AB Vivas has shortened up just looking to put the barrel on the ball. In previous games I've complained about a lack of a two-strike approach from Vivas, but we got to see it put into fruition in real time.
I'm still not entirely convinced that Vivas can stick at the major league level. The way he cocks back his hands during his load creates an elongated swing that to this point has made it hard for him to catch up to the heater. The violence of his swing creates excess head movement that makes it difficult to be precise with the barrel. But if he can expand upon the growth we saw in this single encounter, there's a chance we could see productive AB's start to stack up.
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