Isiah Kiner-Falefa is understanding – and producing in – yet another new role

When Jose Trevino found out that the Yankees were going to have Isiah Kiner-Falefa play the outfield in spring training, the catcher hardly seemed surprised.

“Izzy’s the type of guy that, you tell him to run through a brick wall, he’ll ask you, ‘Which one?’” Trevino said at the time.

A teammate with the Rangers and Yankees, Trevino came up through the minors with Kiner-Falefa. He watched as the middle infielder adjusted to third, tried his hand at the outfield and learned to catch as a prospect. Kiner-Falefa even spent four innings playing first base at Double-A, but the catching experience helped him stick in the majors, as he spent 73 games receiving for Texas from 2018-2019.

The Rangers needed a backup backstop, and Kiner-Falefa eagerly took the job.

“He embraces everything,” Willie Calhoun, another past and present teammate, said after Kiner-Falefa hit a walk-off single against the Padres on Saturday. “It’s fun to watch, and he’s always been that way.”

Kiner-Falefa took the same approach in camp this year when it became clear he would lose the Yankees’ starting shortstop job. He held that position last season, his first in pinstripes, but his defense hurt the team, and prospect Oswald Peraza started a few playoff games over the veteran.

Anthony Volpe ultimately won the shortstop gig this spring, but the Yankees asked Kiner-Falefa to learn the outfield and prepare for a super utility role well before the rookie made the team.

“I don’t think my numbers last year were good enough to hold the spot,” Kiner-Falefa recently said of shortstop. “So it is what it is. I didn’t do good enough last year. I was given another opportunity to be here, so I’m just trying to do everything I can to show what I can do and prove why I’m here.”

Entering Monday, Kiner-Falefa has spent 202 innings between all three outfield positions and 61 innings at the hot corner. He also logged a scoreless inning of relief in a blowout loss on April 13, and he’s practiced behind the plate for emergency situations.

“What a gamer. He’s played multiple positions now. Hasn’t complained once,” said DJ LeMahieu, who is no stranger to versatility. “What a great teammate and great guy to have on the team.”

Kiner-Falefa has actually played every position except for first at the major league level. He considers that a badge of honor.

“I love this game. I love being a baseball player,” Kiner-Falefa said. “It doesn’t need to be one position. It doesn’t need to be just shortstop, just second. I like to be called a baseball player. So I feel like the more positions you play, the more of a baseball player you are, so that’s kind of what I like to do.”

In addition to improving in the outfield, Kiner-Falefa has also found some success at the plate while typically playing against lefties and some hard-throwing righties. Considered a light hitter with strong contact skills, the right-side swinger has enjoyed a bit of a power surge lately, entering Monday with a .292 average, five extra-base hits – including three home runs – and six RBI over his last nine games.

For comparison, Kiner-Falefa hit .182 with two doubles and two RBI over his first 30 games.

“I’ve noticed in batting practice, he’s actually driving the ball more,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s been putting together some really, really impactful at-bats over the last several starts.”

While the sample is small, Kiner-Falefa attributed his hot streak to three specific factors.

The first is the reintroduction of a leg kick to his hitting mechanics, which he used in Texas. That’s been helping him drive the ball more, as has a heavier frame, or what Kiner-Falefa calls his “third base body.”

He spent most of last season at 180 pounds, a weight he landed on in preparation for playing shortstop on the Rangers’ turf field before two March trades brought him to New York. Kiner-Falefa started to put weight back on last September – he hit a season-high three homers that month – and he’s now about 195 pounds.

The third factor has been a better understanding of his responsibilities over time. Kiner-Falefa said he “wasn’t really clear on what exactly my role was” earlier this season, but now he knows when to expect playing time and the types of pitchers he’ll face.

That knowledge allows him to make the most of the days he’s not in the lineup.

“Those days off, sometimes they suck, but at the same time, they’re opportunities for me to work with the coaches and keep progressing,” Kiner-Falefa said. “So as much as I want to be in there every day, those opportunities when I’m down, if I’m grinding and using them the right way, they’re really helping me develop my swing and giving me opportunities to keep getting better.”

That work has included efforts to maximize Kiner-Falefa’s power, but he considered returning to his “spray” and “slap” style of hitting when he didn’t see results earlier this season.

The Yankees convinced him to trust the process, though, as internal metrics showed he was hitting the ball harder than ever. Publicly available stats, such as hard-hit percentage and exit velocity, say the same.

“Which is funny,” said Kiner-Falefa, who is slashing .208/.259/.347 this year, “because it’s like the worst numbers I’ve ever had in my career with the best hitting metrics I’ve ever had in my career. They kind of just told me stick with it. And I started hitting the ball harder and harder. And then, eventually, they started going out. So they kind of swayed me to keep going, because I did have that moment.”

Precedent would suggest that asking Kiner-Falefa to change doesn’t require much persuasion, as tweaks and new positions have never been met with resistance. That remains just as true now as it was when the 28-year-old was trying to cling to a big league roster earlier in his career.

Kiner-Falefa has jumped at every and any role thrown his way, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by those around him.

“You get character reveals all the time in this game, because you’re gonna face rough waters, you’re gonna face adversity,” Boone said. “It reveals itself, and what it’s revealed is a guy that wants to go out and be part of a team, and be part of a winning team, and be part of it here and stick his nose in there and get better all the time.

“Just a credit to him and the character he’s shown us ever since we got him.”