NEW YORK — Andy Pettitte was already a five-time World Series champion when CC Sabathia joined the Yankees before the 2009 season.
Sabathia became the staff ace, Pettitte remained a trusted October arm and, with A.J. Burnett, they formed the three-man rotation Joe Girardi leaned on as the Yankees won their 27th championship.
They shared the New York rotation in 2009 and 2010, then again after Pettitte returned from retirement in 2012 and 2013. Sabathia later sought Pettitte’s advice while reinventing himself.
Now that bond is resurfacing in the minors. Luke Pettitte entered pro ball this month as an eighth-round Yankees pick. Carsten Sabathia III began his career after Milwaukee selected him in the 20th round. Both sons are right-handed first basemen, unlike their left-handed pitching fathers.
Their first professional homers already supplied family symmetry. Andy Pettitte was in Tampa when Luke homered in his Yankees Single-A debut. CC Sabathia was in Wilson, North Carolina, when Carsten hit his first pro homer two days earlier. Luke was the 248th overall pick after Tommy John surgery altered his college path. Carsten waited until pick No. 611 after shoulder surgery and four college seasons.
Then Tuesday produced a coincidence neither family could have planned.
Both Yankees sons reach same milestone on same night
Luke Pettitte and Carsten Sabathia III both homered Tuesday night for their Single-A clubs. Remarkably, each blast was the third professional home run of his career.
Pettitte went deep for the Tampa Tarpons in a 10-5 victory over Jupiter in Florida, attacking a slider from right-hander Yohanfer Santana in the eighth and sending it 321 feet to left-center.
Several hundred kilometers away, Sabathia homered for the Wilson Warbirds in an 8-5 loss to Hickory in North Carolina. The Brewers prospect connected in the fourth against right-hander Connor O’Hara and also drove the ball to left-center.
Luke is hitting .350/.435/.900 through five games for Tampa. Carsten is batting .405/.468/.690 through 11 games for Wilson. Combined, the sons of the former Yankees rotation mates have six professional homers and 17 RBIs through 16 games.
Luke Pettitte turns Yankees draft story into immediate production
The Yankees selected Luke Pettitte with the 248th overall pick in the eighth round of the 2026 MLB Draft out of Dallas Baptist.
Luke spent his first two college seasons as a right-handed pitcher and posted a 3.19 ERA over 48 innings. Injuries, including Tommy John surgery, kept him from pitching in 2026 and pushed his offensive development forward. He responded by hitting .337/.403/.693 with 16 home runs and 48 RBIs for Dallas Baptist, prompting the Yankees to draft him as a two-way player.
His professional debut brought the family name back into the Yankees spotlight. Pettitte went 2-for-3 with two walks and homered at George M. Steinbrenner Field with his parents in attendance. The homer came 20 years and seven days after Andy Pettitte hit the only regular-season home run of his 18-year MLB career.
Luke described the night afterward in simple terms.
“It was just a pretty surreal moment,” Pettitte said.
One week later, his third professional homer gave the Pettitte family another Yankees-era connection, this time with the Sabathias.
Carsten Sabathia brings another old Yankees link into pro ball
Milwaukee selected Carsten Sabathia III with the 611th overall pick in the 20th and final round after four college seasons split between Georgia Tech and Houston.
The 22-year-old returned from shoulder surgery to hit .283/.374/.511 with six home runs in 107 plate appearances as a Houston senior.
Milwaukee carries its own family significance. CC Sabathia spent only part of one season with the Brewers, but went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts in 2008 and helped Milwaukee reach the postseason for the first time since 1982.
Carsten’s first professional homer came Aug. 16 during a 3-for-4 performance for Wilson, with CC watching from the family suite. That connected Carsten to his father’s former organization. Tuesday’s third connected him back to the Yankees through Pettitte.
Old Yankees rotation now has a second-generation box-score link
Andy Pettitte finished with 256 major league victories and still owns the MLB record with 19 postseason wins. Sabathia won 251 games, struck out 3,093 hitters and entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025 as a first-ballot selection.
Their most important Yankees overlap came in 2009. Sabathia started Games 1 and 4 of the World Series against Philadelphia. Pettitte started Games 3 and 6 and won both, including the championship clincher at Yankee Stadium.
No serious comparison can yet be made between those careers and what their sons may become. Luke has played five professional games. Carsten has played 11. Both remain near the beginning of the minor league ladder.
Still, the symmetry is striking. The sons of two left-handers who shared a Yankees championship rotation are both right-handed first basemen. Both had their fathers present for their first professional home runs. Both began their careers in Single-A this summer. And on Tuesday, both hit professional homer No. 3.
The Yankees connection that began on a major league mound in 2009 suddenly has a second-generation version in two minor league box scores.
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