Yankees Birthday of the Day: César Cabral

Just by the nature of doing a daily birthday post, we’re going to run into some days where there’s not a truly notable Yankee from history to profile. There are also going to be some days we run into where there’s more than one beloved player. However, today is definitely the former and not the latter.

There have only been three Yankees players who have ever had a February 11th birthday, and you’d be forgiven for not remembering any of them. Maybe you can recall the recently-released Jayvien Sandridge, just because he made a cameo for last year’s team.

However, one of today’s birthday boys is engrained into my mind. Unfortunately for him, it’s not for a reason you would want to be remember for.

César Augusto Cabral
Born: February 11, 1989 (Sabana Grande de Palenque, Dominican Republic)
Yankees Tenure: 2013-14

Cabral’s road to the major leagues was a strange journey. He originally signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent in 2005. While he had some OK years in the meantime, by 2010, he had only advanced to High-A ball. Left off the Red Sox 40-man roster, he was then selected by the Rays in that offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.

In the ensuing spring training, the Rays and Blue Jays played a bit of hot potato with him before the Rays had to return him to the Red Sox after Cabral failed to make Tampa Bay’s roster. Following another season back in Boston’s system, he was again picked in the Rule 5 Draft, this time by the Royals. Once again though, he wasn’t destined to play there, as later that same day, the Yankees purchased him from Kansas City.

In spring training 2012, Cabral pitched well enough that the Yankees were considering rostering him full time, negating him returning to Boston. However, he suffered a stress fracture in the dying days off spring, leading to him missing the entire 2012 season. The injury also mean the Yankees could put him on the 60-day injured list and avoid sending him back.

With the possibility of losing him wiped out, the Yankees sent Cabral to the minors to begin 2013, where he produced some iffy results. But when the rosters expanded in September, the Yankees decided to call up the pitcher. In addition to him having the raw “stuff” that impressed them in 2012, he was also a lefty who could allow them to further play matchups in the days before the three batter rule. He ended up appearing in 3.2 innings across eight games for the 2013 Yankees, striking out six batters.

In 2014, Cabral started the season in the minors, but came up that April following an injury to David Robertson. He was again used as a LOOGY, combining for one total inning across his first three games. His fourth appearance came on April 18th, and became the reason why I—and other sickos—continue to remember him.

Playing the Rays on April 18th, the Yankees brought in Cabral in the bottom of the eighth. Adam Warren had just allowed a two-run homer to increase the Yankees’ deficit to 8-5, and they were likely just looking for someone to get a quick final out of the inning before trying to rally in the ninth.

Cabral started his day by giving up a single to Ben Zobrist, and then uncorking a wild pitch in a sign of things to come. Following a Brandon Guyer RBI single, Cabral hit Evan Longoria with a pitch. He then also hit James Loney, having already fallen behind 3-0 in the count. Wil Myers followed that with a single, but in the first pitch of the at-bat after that, Cabral hit a third batter, plunking Logan Forsythe. At that point, home-plate umpire Joe West ejected Cabral, despite the protestations of manager Joe Girardi. Cabral almost certainly didn’t hit any of the batters on purpose, but at that point, the ejection was almost for the safety of batters as much as anything else.

Immediately after that game, the Yankees DFA’d Cabral, but eventually cleared waivers and returned to the Yankees’ minors. Following the season, Cabral elected for free agency and signed with the Orioles. He appeared in two games for them in 2015 and after that spent the next couple years playing in the minors and Independent ball. His last recorded stats are in the 2023-24 season in the Dominican Winter League.

Every season for every team usually features relievers who only appear in a handful of innings. Usually, those stint are uneventful and not particularly remembered. That’s probably the case for Cabral for most people out there. However, some of us are weird, and Cabral plunking three batters and getting ejected for the wellbeing of the opposition is something to remember.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.