Jon Berti was in the New York Yankees’ starting lineup for Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the visiting Kansas City Royals on Monday and set to play first base for the first time in his professional career.
The Yankees are in search of options at first base after Anthony Rizzo, who was not named to the ALDS roster after he fractured two fingers on his right hand when he was hit by a pitch in the next-to-last regular-season game.
New York took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five ALDS following a 6-5 victory over the Royals on Saturday. The switch-hitting Oswaldo Cabrera started at first base for the Yankees in Game 1 and went 1-for-4 with a double while striking out three times. Berti did not play in the opener.
Berti has never played at first base in seven major league seasons or in parts of 11 seasons in the minor leagues. He was an 18th-round draft pick by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011.
Berti made 18 of his 21 starts for New York this season at third base. The utility man has 167 career starts over six seasons at third, 116 at second base and another 110 at shortstop. He has also started games at all three outfield positions in his career.
The 34-year-old is a career .259 hitter with 24 home runs and 126 RBIs in 461 games for the Blue Jays (2018), Miami Marlins (2019-23) and Yankees.
–Field Level Media