Triston McKenzie initially declined to confess.
“I was a huge Captain fan,” he began when asked about his true interests as a child. “Derek Jeter is my favorite player.”
As much McKenzie had no problem admitting right off the bat. But it took a few nudges to get McKenzie, a native of Brooklyn, to share his whole truth — that he grew up a Yankees fan despite his family moving to Florida as a child.
McKenzie’s reluctance made sense: He’s a right-handed starting pitcher for the Guardians and he spoke a day before the start of Game 3 of his team’s American League Division series against the Yankees, being played in Cleveland. But he eventually relented, even adding that he sided with the Yankees in the infamous 2007 Midge Game.
The pesky insects that pestered Joba Chamberlain could be back in progressive field for Game 3 on Saturday, but McKenzie’s loyalties have of course changed since Chamberlain was swarmed all those years ago.
“I’m out there to win,” said McKenzie, Cleveland’s 2015 first-round pick, adding that he’d brag about it to family members who still live in Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens. “It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the field.”
McKenzie, 25, has had an excellent regular season. His 11-11 record somewhat eclipsed his 2.96 ERA, achieved in the first 30-start season of his career. His strikeout rate of 25.6 percent led Cleveland’s rotation, and he finished second with the Guardians in innings pitched (191⅓) and strikeouts (190), behind only staff ace Shane Bieber. On Friday, Bieber allowed two earned runs over five and two-thirds of an innings in Cleveland’s 4-2 win at Yankee Stadium.
While McKenzie credited Jeter as his favorite player growing up, it’s actually another Yankees — and Clevelands — favorite that has helped him thrive in the majors.
Like McKenzie, CC Sabathia began his career in Cleveland as a young black pitcher. Sabathia, who retired with the Yankees after the 2019 season, was a southpaw with a different build than the 6-foot-5, 165-pound McKenzie, but in him McKenzie still found a slinger to look up to.
“I think the representation as a young black pitcher, as a young black baseball player, to see him play at the highest level and see him dominate at the highest level is something that you obviously try and emulate,” McKenzie said. “You look to the guys who are the best. And even though he’s left-handed, I found myself in him more than I did in many other pitchers back then.”
McKenzie’s fondness for Sabathia eventually turned into friendship after the two met last summer.
A freshman at the time, McKenzie went into the encounter ready to confess his fan base to Sabathia, a former Cy Young Award winner and member of the 3,000 Strikeout Club. But the introduction took a “surreal” turn when Sabathia echoed those sentiments to McKenzie.
“One of the first words out of his mouth was, ‘Hey Triston, I’m a huge fan of yours,'” McKenzie recalled. “It was overwhelming for me. I don’t even know how to explain that.”
Now, McKenzie credits Sabathia as his “cuz,” one who returned to Cleveland to see his mentee’s first playoff start on Oct. 8. McKenzie made his best impression of an old Sabathia that day, throwing six scoreless innings and batting eight. The performance came in a 1-0 wildcard win over the Tampa Bay Rays in 15 innings.
In addition to cheering for McKenzie, Sabathia recently invited him to his podcast R2C2 and advised him to grow up in the majors. The two are close, and given the limited number of black pitchers in the sport, McKenzie says Sabathia is a valuable resource when it comes to navigating different cities and other aspects of big league life.
“From LA to New York, Miami to Texas, I think there’s a lot of different types of people,” McKenzie explained. “Being able to deal with different fans and how different people treat us is a learning curve in the game. He almost accelerated that process for me because he lets me know that I can just be myself.”
McKenzie also believes that he and Sabathia have a “special bond” because they both have “roots in Cleveland.” But Sabathia, a six-time All-Star, won the 2009 World Series with the Yankees and spent 11 years in the Bronx compared to eight years in Cleveland.
Which team will Sabathia support as McKenzie and the Guardians try to put the Yankees in a 2-1 hole for ALDS on Saturday?
“morning? I think he’s cheering me on,” McKenzie said. “But I think he’s always cheering for the Americans.”