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Red Sox Rookie Facing Major Allegations After Viral Yankees Comments

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jake Elman | Last updated Jun 11, 2025 8:18 AM ET

Saying that he'd never pitch for the New York Yankees is likely how a significant amount of baseball fans learned about Boston Red Sox rookie Hunter Dobbins.

Those who missed that story might have trouble avoiding the follow-up.

MLB insider Joel Sherman reported Tuesday night that Dobbins potentially made false claims that the Yankees drafted his father, Lance, and later traded him to the Arizona Diamondbacks. According to Sherman, there are no records of any pitcher named Lance Dobbins ever pitching in the Yankees' organization at any level.

In fact, Sherman spoke to the person perhaps best qualified to know.

"Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who has been with the organization since 1986, has no recollection of the Yankees drafting Lance Dobbins," Sherman wrote, "and said a check with the Yankees amateur department revealed no drafting of a Lance Dobbins."

Now, there is a Baseball-Reference page for a pitcher named Lance Dobbins. However, that Dobbins never played in the minors, instead posting an 8.64 ERA and a 49-77 K-BB ratio over 91 2/3 innings in the Big South League and Frontier League, two independent leagues, from 1996-97.

And no, that's not a typo. Dobbins walked 77 hitters in nearly 92 innings.

As of publication, neither Hunter nor Lance had addressed Sherman's reporting.

Things only get more interesting as you go deeper down the rabbit hole. The Diamondbacks had six minor-league affiliates in 1998, none of which were the two teams that Dobbins pitched for: the Meridian Brakemen (1996-97) and the Ohio Valley Redcoats (1997).

The Yankees could not have traded Dobbins to the D-backs because Arizona didn't play its first game until 1998. Curiously, Dobbins' official Major League Baseball bio mentions his father pitched in the D-backs' system over those two years.

Baseball Reference only has records of one Dobbins playing organized professional baseball: the same, aforementioned Lance Dobbins.

As for Hunter, he's 3-1 with a 4.20 ERA and a 37-10 K-BB ratio over 49 1/3 innings. At least there's indisputable proof of him pitching for a Major League Baseball team.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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