The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 on Monday night in their series opener competition. Although ace Gerrit Cole gave a good start by hitting eight and allowing one run on three hits and a run over six overs, the most notable player of the match was his catcher, Kyle Higashioka.
Higashioka, who was his second start of the season, won 2 for 3 with two home runs and three RBIs. In the process, he even made a history and became the first catcher in Major League Baseball history with three multi-homer games in his first dozen home races. according to STATS.
This is, of course, an arbitrary and largely meaningful piece of trivia … to which we say, here’s another one: Higashioka also hosted the Blue Jays three times in September, meaning five of his 12 home games in Toronto came against Toronto. .
Higashioka (31) now appears in parts of five major league seasons. He is a career of .192 / .230 / .389 (64 OPS +) who is more employed for his defensive efforts than his offensive ability. Indeed, Higashioka has become interested in the current iteration of the Yankees because of his role as Cole’s personal catcher.
Before the start of Gary Sanchez’s opening day, Higashioka got the nod for four consecutive Cole games in the regular season, and seven overall, including the post-season. The factor in Monday’s game and playoff games, and Higashioka started nine of Cole’s last ten games and nine of his 18 overall as a member of the Yankees.
Yet manager Aaron Boone claimed earlier this week that he would not hold a rigid personal catcher arrangement between Cole and Higashiokia. “I’ll put them together, I’m sure a fair amount,” Boone said, according to Brendan Kuty of NJ Advanced Media. “But I also felt like, especially back after the opening day, I felt like Gary and Gerrit were really good. I feel comfortable with both guys.”