GUN-SHY DAYS
TAMPA – After a few injury-plagued and unproductive seasons, Willie Calhoun knew he needed to get started quickly this spring.
The Yankees’ non-roster invitee typically gets off to a slow start in camp, but that wasn’t an option if he wanted to make the Bombers’ Opening Day lineup. So Calhoun began his offseason swinging program a month earlier than usual this past winter.
“I kind of wanted to just get back to my old self,” the corner outfielder said. “I was banged up a lot the last three years, and it was my first offseason where I could really focus on being healthy and making sure that I put myself in a good position offensively to get back to where I want to be. Because I know I can provide a lot of value.”
Calhoun has flexed some of that value over 38 plate appearances this spring, taking a .344 average, .947 OPS, two doubles, one home run, three RBI and six walks into Monday’s off day. Per Baseball Reference’s Opponent Quality statistic, Calhoun has collectively faced Double-A-level competition, but he’s impressed his coaches nonetheless.
“He can hit,” Aaron Boone repeated Saturday after Calhoun smoked a two-bagger against the Blue Jays. “Feel like he’s in a good place right now. But he knows where the barrel is.”
Calhoun, 28, has had some big-league success that supports his skipper’s sentiment. The Vallejo, California native enjoyed a career year with the Rangers in 2019, when he clubbed 21 homers while posting a respectable .269/.323 /.524 slash line. But the aforementioned injuries – including erratic pitches that shattered his jaw in 2020 and his forearm in 2021 – limited the lefty swinger’s availability and made him uneasy at the plate.
The jaw incident required an air-lift to the hospital. As past and present teammate Isiah Kiner-Falefa told the Daily News, Calhoun “was very unlucky with the Rangers,” and he had an uneventful four-game stint with the Giants last season.
“When you break your bones, you get hit by pitches, it kind of makes you a little bit gun-shy and you’re timid to get back into the box,” said Calhoun, who’s hit .221/.286/.335 and appeared in just 126 MLB games since 2019. “So I put that all behind me during the offseason. That’s why I wanted to start earlier this year, just so I can get myself back into that swing of things.”
While Calhoun’s port-side pop made him an intriguing minor-league signing when the Yankees inked him in January, it’s his improved defense that’s kept him in contention for a roster spot.
Drafted by the Dodgers as a second baseman, Calhoun didn’t fully transition to the outfield until after the 2017 trade that sent him to Texas and brought Yu Darvish to Los Angeles. But it wasn’t a seamless switch.