Oswaldo Cabrera played the first 553 games of his professional career as an infielder before making his first start in the outfield this July 8 while on a rehab assignment with Low-A Tampa.

Just over three months later, he was starting Game 1 of the ALDS in left field at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night — and flashing the leather while he was at it.

The 23-year-old rookie has impressed the Yankees with just about everything he has done since making his big-league debut on Aug. 17, but how smooth the transition has been to the outfield has even surprised Cabrera.

“Yeah, honestly I’m surprised by that,” Cabrera said with a big smile Wednesday at Yankee Stadium before a workout ahead of Thursday’s Game 2. “But at the same time, it’s the work that we were putting in on it. I never thought that I was going to make plays like that, but we were working for it.”

The play Cabrera was fielding questions about on Wednesday came in the fourth inning of Game 1. Guardians DH Will Brennan hit a fly ball down the left-field line that Cabrera chased down and caught while jumping into the wall in foul territory. He lost his hat in the stands in the process, but a fan handed it to him seconds later — though it was missing the positioning card that had been tucked inside of it — and Cabrera thanked him with a high five.

It proved to be a key play in an eight-pitch inning that got Gerrit Cole back on track after an arduous first three innings.

“[He] continues to just be so impressive,” said an appreciative Cole.

Besides hitting well enough across 44 regular-season games to earn the fifth spot in the Yankees playoff lineup — he hit .293 with six home runs across his final 22 games before going 0-for-3 in Game 1 — Cabrera earned his manager’s trust with how calmly he handled playing third base, shortstop, right field, second base, left field and even first base during his first month and a half in the big leagues.

Wherever Cabrera has played, he has stood out, accruing 13 Defensive Runs Saved (per Fielding Bible), fitting right in with the Yankees’ improved all-around defense. That continued on Tuesday despite the bigger stage.

“He’s very mature,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s a very confident baseball player. He works really hard. He processes information really well. You’ve seen that, I think offensively, too. I feel like he’s made really good adjustments as these couple months have unfolded. He’s just a really good player, and he plays the game with a lot of confidence, with a little bit of a swagger to him, and just he’s a really good worker, too. He gets after it and he’s not afraid.”

Cabrera trained in the outfield last offseason, in case the Yankees might eventually need him there, and continued to get some pregame work in the corner spots during his minor league season. He also sought advice from coaches, teammates and his brother Leobaldo, an outfielder in the Twins’ system, before finally starting a game in right field for Tampa while coming back from a shoulder injury.

Still, he had only played three games in right field and one game in left field before arriving in The Bronx, where needs quickly arose in right field (with Aaron Judge playing center before Harrison Bader was healthy) and then left field (after Andrew Benintendi broke his hamate bone and Aaron Hicks struggled).

The end result has been Cabrera becoming an invaluable piece of the Yankees lineup as they chase a title in October.

“All the veteran guys, all the people inside of the clubhouse, they give me confidence,” Cabrera said. “From the first day that I’m here, they gave me that feeling that I am a part of the team. You know, so that made me feel so happy and that made me feel I could play with so much confidence on the field.”