Cave back with Thunder after nearly making Reds’ roster
TRENTON >> Jake Cave took his place in left field for the Thunder’s season opener on Thursday night with a glove that wasn’t his. When his spot came around fifth in the lineup, he had a bat that also wasn’t his.
It’s been that kind of week for Cave, who arrived back in Trenton Wednesday night, after the Cincinnati Reds made him one of the last cuts to their major league roster.
The Reds selected Cave second in the rule-5 draft, giving him an opportunity to make the big league roster, but released him just prior to opening day. A player taken in the rule-5 draft has to spend the entire season in the majors or be offered back to the original club if they clear waivers.
Once he cleared waivers, Cave went back to the Yankees for $25,000, half of what the Reds paid to pick him in the rule-5 draft.
“Parts of it are disappointing, but I’m here now,” Cave said. “It’s out of my control. I just got to play baseball. It’s been a rough past couple of days, travelling around, trying to wait around (and) figure out where I’m going to go, what’s going to happen. Now I’m here. It’s still baseball, so I still got to play.”
His luggage, which the he said the Reds were overnighting, has yet to arrive.
“I’m going to be using some random batting gloves, bats, gloves,” Cave said. “I actually have a pitcher’s BP (batting practice) shag glove that I’m using out there in left today.”
Cave had a decent spring with the Reds, batting .255 (14 for 55) in 26 games, but said there was a logjam in the outfield when Cincinnati wasn’t able to trade Jay Bruce.
That left Cave as the fourth outfield option, the Reds felt it would be best for his career if he got the chance to play regularly.
“I would have been 23 years old, playing once every seven to 10 days … pinch run, pinch hit here and there,” Cave said. “That has potentially destroyed some guys’ careers before. That’s what I was told, so that’s all I really know.”
Whether Cave has a path to the majors with the Yankees isn’t so clear. Highlyrated prospect Aaron Judge is in Scranton as are Slade Heathcott and Ben Gamel. Heathcott played 17 times for the Yankees last season and Gamel is on the 40-man roster.
For now, Cave is back with the Thunder, a club that he is familiar with. Cave batted .269 with 22 doubles and 17 steals in 125 games here last season.
New manager Bobby Mitchell met Cave for the first time on Wednesday, and said he liked his attitude under the circumstances.
“It’s got to be, I would think, a little disappointing
when you’re sent back, but he doesn’t seem to be,” Mitchell said. “His attitude since he’s been here today has been awesome. He doesn’t have some of his equipment, but that’s the kind of guy he is, he’s like ‘forget that, let me know where I’m going to be playing.’ In fact, his first question to (hitting coach P.J. Pilittere) was ‘am I playing?’ He goes, ‘yeah, you’re hitting fifth.’ He said, ‘oh good, RBI guy.’ So those guys are great, they probably handle it better.”
Opening night chills
Throw the opener to the Wolves.
The Thunder failed to generate any offense on a frigid night and the Erie SeaWolves made four second-inning runs off starter Brady Lail stand up, taking the curtain raiser, 7-0, at Arm & Hammer Park in front of a crowd of 6,502.
Erie catcher Austin Green accounted for almost all of the damage, blasting a three-run homer to left. Lail wasn’t helped by a pair of errors in the inning, the first of which allowed the leadoff man to reach and a second that allowed the fourth run to come across when catcher Kyle Higashioka dropped a relay throw that would’ve nailed Kody Evans at home.
Lail earned the opening night start after a strong 2015, the bulk of it with the Thunder (6-4, 2.45 ERA), but he labored in the cold and couldn’t locate his secondary pitches.
He went four innings (91 pitches, 57 strikes), allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits.
The SeaWolves tacked on three runs in the ninth — two on a single by Gustavo Nunez — to account for the final margin.