With their season on the line in Game 5 of last year's ALDS, the New York Yankees started Kyle Higashioka behind the plate, not two-time All-Star Gary Sanchez. Higashioka took over as Gerrit Cole's personal catcher during the regular season, then took over as the starting catcher in October following Sanchez's miserable year.
Although it worked well last year, the Cole-Higashioka pairing is not something the Yankees and manager Aaron Boone are looking to continue in 2021. Higashioka will catch Cole during Sunday's Grapefruit League game, though Boone said he expects Sanchez to be behind the plate to catch Cole on Opening Day in two weeks.
"With Higgy being out there for a couple days (with an injury) and then coming out of the off-day (Thursday), I wanted to play Gary back-to-back days, so it's just that," Boone said Sunday. "I would expect Gary to be behind there on Opening Day."
Higashioka has not played since last Sunday because of a nagging side issue that has since cleared up. Sanchez started behind the plate Friday and Saturday, and it's not often a catcher will start three straight games in spring training. He was going to get Sunday off regardless, and now that Higashioka is ready to go, he'll return to the lineup, and it just so happens to be a Cole start.
Sunday will be Cole's fourth Grapefruit League start. Sanchez, Higashioka, and non-roster invitee Rob Brantly were behind the plate for his first three. Cole also threw a simulated game two weeks ago (the Yankees held him out of that day's game because there was rain in the forecast, and they wanted to make sure he got his work in), though it's unclear who caught him.
"I thought we worked well today, and so I was confident throwing anything we needed to," Cole told reporters, including MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, after pitching to Sanchez in his first spring start a few weeks ago. "He made some good blocks in the dirt too, so I thought we did a nice job together."
Cole has a bit of a history of personal catchers. Chris Stewart was his personal catcher for a while with the Pirates, and Martin Maldonado became his personal catcher in the middle of 2019 with the Astros. Here are his 2020 regular season numbers:
| Starts | IP | ERA | Opp. AVG/OBP/SLG | K% | BB% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
with Higashioka |
4 |
27 |
1.00 |
.147/.190/.242 |
34.0 |
5.0 |
|
with Sanchez |
8 |
46 |
3.91 |
.225/.282/.494 |
31.9 |
6.4 |
Higashioka also caught Cole's three postseason starts, during which he had 2.95 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .188/.243/.391 batting line in 18 1/3 innings. Clearly, the results were better with Higashioka, though the sample size is pretty small even when you include the postseason. The Yankees aren't willing to let those small samples dictate their roster usage in 2021, at least not yet.
"We'll come in with the idea that, whether it's Gary or Kyle, they'll both work with really all of our pitchers here in spring," Boone said during his start of spring press conference last month (video). "Whether it's in bullpens, and then into the spring games, I'm always willing to do whatever I feel like it's necessary moving forward. But no, I don't have that plan of pairing Cole and Higashioka."
It makes sense to have Sanchez catch Cole in spring training because Higashioka may not always be available (injury, illness, etc.), and you don't want the first time Cole and Sanchez work together this year to be in a game that means something. Higashioka catching Cole on Sunday is a product of the circumstances more than by design. I'd bet on Sanchez catching him next time out.
The Yankees open the 2021 regular season at home against the AL East rival Blue Jays on Thursday, April 1.
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March 21, 2021 at 10:02PM
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Yankees' Gary Sanchez set to catch Gerrit Cole on Opening Day vs. Blue Jays - CBS Sports
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