Yankees have gotten solid play at first base from Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera

It is one of those baseball phrases still thrown around every now and then, even though it repeatedly has been disproved: “Anybody can play first base.”

Former Yankee Mark Teixeira, a five-time Gold Glove winner at the position, always had a rejoinder at the ready when it was brought up to him. “Yes, anybody can play first base,” he would say. “Not everyone can play it well.”

Also recall the conversation between A's general manager Billy Beane, catcher Scott Hatteberg and infield coach Ron Washington in ''Moneyball'' when the A's wanted Hatteberg to learn first base:

Beane: ''It's not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash.''

Washington: ''It's incredibly hard.''

The Yankees were put in a bind just before the postseason began when Anthony Rizzo suffered two broken fingers on his right hand after getting hit by a pitch. That left them with two inexperienced options at first, both utility players — Oswaldo Cabrera and Jon Berti.

Each got two starts in the Yankees' four-game ALDS victory over the Royals; each fielded the position more than adequately and, in some cases, well. The 3-3-6 double play Berti started behind Gerrit Cole in the Yankees' Game 4  victory, on a scorched ground ball hit by Michael Massey, immediately comes to mind (Berti’s strong throw to Anthony Volpe that retired a sliding Maikel Garcia touched off a bases-clearing incident).

“A lot more difficult than I think people realize. I told [Rizzo] that the other day,” Berti said with a smile on a Zoom call on Saturday. “There’s just a lot to it, a lot of different positioning, a lot of different things around the bag that you have to be aware of and involved in at all times.”

Rizzo suffered the injury in the next-to-last game of the regular season on Sept. 28 and tried to get himself ready for the Division Series but felt too much discomfort and was left off the roster. He thought he could be ready for the ALCS if the Yankees got there, but Aaron Boone didn’t sound terribly optimistic about that on Saturday.

“There has been progress, [but] he hasn’t done a lot physically baseball-wise,” Boone said. “He’s been letting that thing heal up as much as possible and doing a lot of treatments.”

Extra bases

Boone said the club had not yet made a decision between Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt when it comes to who will start ALCS Game 1  against Cleveland on Monday. Boone did say Cole is slated to start Game 2 and that AL Rookie of the Year candidate Luis Gil, in the bullpen for the ALDS as the Yankees needed only three starters for the series, will start at some point “later” in the ALCS . . . Boone said Alex Verdugo, who started all four games against the Royals, again will be his starter in leftfield rather than Jasson Dominguez in the ALCS . . .  The Yankees carried 11 pitchers and 15 position players for the Division Series, and Boone said the team is likely to go with “12 or 13” pitchers for the ALCS, opening the door for a roster spot for Marcus Stroman, who was left off the ALDS roster.