With the New York Yankees awaiting news on the severity of Jazz Chisholm’s UCL injury, there’s a question about who they’ll turn to for the infield. Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu are their two options to cover there on the roster right now, but it would make sense for them to bring someone up from Triple-A to get a shot. Caleb Durbin, who opened many eyes in Spring Training, could be the logical choice for the team as he brings a solid bat and some strong defensive skills to the table.
A versatile scrappy player with speed, Caleb Durbin could be a sparkplug for a Yankees team trying to fire on all cylinders in August.
Caleb Durbin Is the Yankees’ Best Option to Replace Jazz Chisholm
After putting up solid numbers in Double-A last season, Caleb Durbin opened the 2024 season with the Triple-A Scranton RailRiders, and he’s arguably been their best player. While an injury sustained after being hit by a pitch has limited him to just 53 games at the highest level of Minor League Baseball, he’s put up incredible numbers, slashing .301/.421/.480 with a 139 wRC+. His 9.5% strikeout rate and 16% Whiff Rate are reflective of his elite contact tool, but he’s found ways to improve the quality of his contact as well.
Isolated Power measures a hitter’s game power by subtracting their AVG from their SLG% (SLG% – BA), and the average mark in the International League this season is .166. Durbin has a.179, meaning he’s generating game power at an above-average clip, and that’s thanks to a couple of changes in his batted ball profile. He is no longer just a slap hitter forcing contact; Durbin is lifting the ball at a higher frequency while pulling it 57.6% of the time as well. He ranks in the 89th Percentile in Pulled Flyball Rate, and it’s allowed him to overperform his underwhelming exit velocities.
Built like a running back, Caleb Durbin can get the ball out of the ballpark when he gets ahold of one, and while I don’t think he would hit 20 home runs in a season at any point of his professional career, I do think we could see a double-digit home run campaign. With his solid plate discipline, there’s a good amount of walks that I expect to see from him at the next level, but what kind of hitter does he best compare to?
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Some have thrown out the Jose Altuve comparison, but I think that’s hilariously irresponsible given that it implies that he’s going to become one of the best second basemen in MLB history. A more accurate answer in my eyes would be someone like Nico Hoerner, a contact-hitting infielder who has excellent defensive chops and can get on-base at a decent clip due to a solid average and walk rate. They both share equally subpar exit velocity and raw power numbers, but Hoerner has become one of the better players in baseball.
Dating back to the start of the 2021 season, Hoerner is fourth among second basemen in fWAR (12.5) while posting a modest 102 wRC+, and I think that could be the kind of player Durbin can become in an ideal world. Maybe his power surge in Triple-A allows him to hit for some more power than Hoerner has, especially since Durbin’s game is more reliant on pull-side contact than Hoerner’s is. I’d also throw out Andres Gimenez as a good player comparison for similar reasons, as the archetype I see best fitting here is the speed-contact hitter who brings an excellent glove to the table.
I love the kind of player who can contribute value outside of their bat, and Caleb Durbin is one of those players, as his glove and speed bring a lot to the table. He’s an excellent defender on the dirt, handling shortstop well and playing some third base as well. Second base is where I’d see Durbin settling long-term, but he’s also played some centerfield and held his own out there. A super utilityman, there’s a lot of versatility here that could serve a contending team well, especially if he were to hold his own at the plate and the team got Jazz Chisholm back.
On the bases, Caleb Durbin also does a great job of stealing bases and creating havoc, with 20 stolen bases in 22 attempts this season. If you prorate that over a 150-game sample, he would have 56 steals at a 91% clip. That’s pretty remarkable, and while I don’t think he’ll steal nearly 60 bases at the next level, I think he could be a 20-30 stolen base threat for the Yankees on the basepaths. Considering how slow the Yankees are even with Jazz Chisholm, they could use someone like Durbin who could keep catchers and pitchers on edge when he’s at first base.
The Yankees could go to Oswald Peraza, who is red-hot in Triple-A but hasn’t found any MLB success, they could also go to Jorbit Vivas who has put together a solid campaign with Scranton. In my opinion, Durbin is the most deserving name on that team right now, and the Yankees could have a strong defensive option at multiple positions with him on their team. Aaron Boone mentioned wanting to give Anthony Volpe a day off after the foul ball off of his foot, and Durbin is so versatile that he can anchor the Yankees at shortstop if needed.
Prospects are impossible to project with perfect accuracy, but the Yankees might have a reliable infielder in Caleb Durbin and I think this should be his time to get a shot.