Joe Girardi spoke in jest about Jose Altuve while calling the New York Yankees in their most recent series against the Chicago White Sox. He sarcastically remarked that they should consider making quality first pitches against Altuve. Ryan Ruocco commented that Girardi knew a lot about that.

As it turns out, they were on to something. Altuve has been a maestro of the first-pitch home run against the Yankees and has done it six times against them in his career. In 2025, he did it twice, clubbing the best the Yankees have to offer in Max Fried and Cam Schlittler.

Amid talks of the Houston scandal on the Apple Broadcast, Altuve took a Schlittler sweeper 388 feet. When Altuve did it to Fried next, it wasn’t just a normal home run. This one had history attached. On the first pitch of the game, Altuve sent Fried’s 94 MPH into the left field seats for his 250th home run. Just like with Schlittler, that one didn’t break 400 feet.

Surprisingly, the first home run against the Yankees on the first pitch didn’t happen in the 2015 Wild Card Game or even during the 2017 ALCS, which Brian Cashman has bemoaned and spoken openly about, mentioning that it haunts him. Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson were all snakebit by the Altuve longball that series, but his first first-pitch home run took place in 2018. This was off AJ Cole.

At that point, the game was already out of reach, and Altuve’s solo shot in the 8th gave the Astros a 5-1 lead. As Altuve rounded the bases, Paul O’Neill, either joking or not realizing what he was saying, proclaimed that Altuve was a “good little hitter.”

The next of the vaunted Altuve first-pitch home runs happened in 2019. It came against James Paxton, whom the Yankees had just acquired that winter. He took a Paxton fastball deep in the bottom of the fifth to lead off the inning. Altuve did it again that season to Luis Severino. During the first inning of Game 2 of the ALCS, with one out, that first-pitch blast ended up in the Astros’ bullpen. It immediately had the Yankees chasing Houston in the ALCS, as they always do.

Altuve waited a few years before he did it again. In 2022, on the very first pitch of the game, Altuve jumped Nestor Cortes. The Astros broadcast had barely finished welcoming their audience to an afternoon of baseball in the Bronx.

Later that season, Altuve would connect with his 200th home run off Cortes, having earned those 200 and 250 milestones specifically against the Yankees. That one just wasn’t hit on the first pitch. Cortes waited a little longer than usual before he suffered his wrath for a second time that season.

The two homers off Schlittler and Fried this year season brought Altuve’s homer total against the Yankees to 19. This includes the playoffs. To put that into context, it’s almost as many as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who has 21 against the Yankees and frequently sees them, and more than Mookie Betts, who has 16 and shared a division with them from 2014 to 2019.

Doing damage on the first pitch isn’t just a Yankee thing for Altuve. In his career, he has 65 home runs on the first pitch. He has 121 doubles and eight triples. Overall, he’s hitting .371/.376/.583.

In the last two seasons, the rate at which he has swung at the first pitch is the highest it has ever been. In 2025, he has a 45.4% first-pitch swing rate, which is slightly down from his 46% first-pitch swing rate last season. It generally ranges from the high 30s to the low 40s during his career.

When Girardi and Ruocco joked about the Yankees needing to make quality first pitches, it was true. Don’t make a first pitch anywhere near the zone. That or throw it in the dirt. Ask Chad Green where a fastball he once threw that was level with Altuve’s eyes once landed.

In some ways, Altuve feels like the Baseball Gods have specifically chosen him to level the playing field. For years, Derek Jeter was the captain of doing damage on the first pitch. His most famous home run, a first-pitch blast off the Mets in the World Series, is etched into the memory of Yankee fans of a certain age. To go with that were 107 doubles and 16 triples. Overall, he hit .378/.392/.555.

Oct 25, 2000; Flushing, NY, USA; FILE PHOTO; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter hits a home run on the first pitch of game 4 of the 2000 World Series against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. Mandatory Credit: H. Darr Beiser-Imagn Images / H. Darr Beiser-Imagn Images

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