Earlier this season, Casey Dykes walked into the Yankees’ pregame hitters’ meeting wearing a blue umbrella hat.
Why, the Daily News wondered, would the assistant hitting coach need such headwear for a meeting about the opposition’s pitching staff?
“I don’t wanna answer that,” said Oswaldo Cabrera, typically bubbly and open with reporters.
“I don’t have an answer for that one,” insisted lead hitting coach James Rowson, who cracked up at the question. “I’m not telling you your eyes deceived you.”
When confronted, Dykes declined to comment on his rain-shielding cap. He took the same approach to general inquiries regarding the Yankees’ hitters’ meetings.
“Confidential,” Dykes said with a smile. “I’m not gonna go into detail on that.”
Other Yankees, seemingly bound by secrecy, offered similar answers when asked about the meetings throughout the season.
“That’s for the hitters to know, baby,” Alex Verdugo said.
“We just prepare for the pitchers that night,” Jon Berti claimed. “I don’t know if I can go into more detail than that.”
“I can’t tell you everything that we do in there,” Juan Soto added, “but we’re going through the other team and trying to find a way to beat them.”
The Yankees’ hitters have a raucous way of doing that, though it remains unclear exactly what the process entails because their meetings take place in a war room adjacent to the clubhouse when the team plays at Yankee Stadium.
Two closed doors with clouded panes make it impossible to know precisely what happens behind them. But flashing, colorful lights can be seen through the glass on a near-daily basis, as the Yankees’ meetings overlap with the 50 minutes of clubhouse access reporters are given before games.
The doors also can’t block out the boisterous screams or ear-splitting songs, like Ava Max’s “My Head & My Heart,” Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie,” and Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” — to name a few examples — that have loudly soundtracked the meetings. It’s not uncommon for the tunes to be played via music videos that feature bikini-clad women.
“It’s just normal hitters’ meeting stuff!” Jahmai Jones swore when told the gatherings sound more like parties, though he failed to convey a serious tone as he kept repeating himself.
The Yankees often tried to recreate this club-like environment on the road, though smaller facilities and sound systems didn’t always allow for such energized assemblies.
“To keep it simple, we’re just getting these guys ready for the game,” Rowson said, adding that players organically created the vibe of these meetings. “That’s kind of the gist. But you know what? In order to do it, you gotta have some fun, right? So we’re creating the atmosphere to get in there and get ready to win games. It’s a lot of fun. The guys enjoy it.”
That they do.
While only Austin Wells shared details about one particular meeting after it included a viral video of him dancing, the Yankees certainly sound fond of the powwows.
“It’s a good hitters’ meeting,” Verdugo emphasized.
Berti and Cabrera added that the lively summits have created a strong bond within the group.
“We try to enjoy everybody so that it feels like a family,” Cabrera said.
Whatever the Yankees do in their meetings, it worked during the regular season.
While not always consistent and sometimes over-reliant on Soto and Aaron Judge, who combined for 99 home runs and 253 RBI, the playoff-bound Bombers had one of baseball’s top offenses this season. With the American League Division Series on deck, they ranked first in home runs (237), BB% (10.8), Barrel% (10.5), exit velocity (90.1 mph) and pitches seen (24,962) while placing second in wRC+ (117) and Hard-Hit% (42.3).
The Yankees also finished third in fWAR (33.7), RBI (782), runs scored (815), on-base percentage (.333), OPS (.761) and plate appearances (6,245); fourth in slugging (.429); and ninth in average (.248) and K% (21.2).
With numbers like that, it’s a wonder why all of the Yankees’ meetings aren’t held in a similar style.
“We’re a little more business-oriented than those guys are,” said pitching coach Matt Blake. “I don’t know if we get to the level of fun that they do.”
Blake noted that the Yankees’ pitchers typically only meet before the start of each series. The hitters, however, meet every day.
With the season being so long, spicing things up avoids monotony.
“When you do it 162 times, you gotta find a way to make it interesting,” Soto said.
Some could certainly observe the hitters’ meetings from outside the war room doors and ask if the Yankees are having too much fun. But Rowson, in his first year as the team’s hitting coach, doesn’t see it that way.
As far as he’s concerned, preparation and having a good time go “hand in hand.”
“It doesn’t have to be dull and boring and just going through things,” said Rowson, a former Yankees minor leaguer. “So we’re having a lot of fun, but don’t mistake having fun for not being prepared. Because our guys are ultra-prepared and ultra-ready to go every night.”
With a good thing going, don’t expect any tweaks for the playoffs. As the season’s most important games begin Saturday, the hitters’ meetings will remain rowdy behind closed doors.
“Guys are still excited to be in there, and we’re still getting a lot of good things done,” Rowson, spotted with his own unexplained umbrella hat, said during the final week of the season. “The key is to continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing all the way through and not make very many changes.”
