Kyle Higashioka is supposed to be the New York Yankees backup catcher. The second-longest tenured Yankee behind Brett Gardner isn’t supposed to be making a meaningful impact. However, through four postseason games, Higashioka is proving to be the ace-in-the-hole the Yankees need. Aside from expertly handling the Yankees pitching staff, he is also getting it done at the plate. Kyle Higashioka is proving his worth as a player and teammate. Not just that, he is also making a case for to be the starting catcher heading into next season.
Comparison
The numbers don’t lie. Through four postseason games, Higashioka is batting .313 with five hits, two RBI and one home run. His catching counterpart Gary Sanchez is batting .125 with only one hit to go along with four strikeouts in two games. The numbers look even worse when looking closer at Sanchez’s career postseason stats. In 110 playoff at bats, Sanchez is only batting .173 with a .291 OBP and 44 strikeouts. Not very impressive for supposedly one of the league’s premier catchers.
Despite passing the eye test, Higashioka’s greatest value has been behind the plate.
This postseason, Yankee pitchers are throwing a combined 3.60 ERA and are 3-1 with Higgy behind the dish. With Sanchez behind the plate, the ERA balloons to 8.67 and the Yankees are 1-1. It is obvious that pitchers are much more comfortable throwing to Higashioka. Here’s a closer look at the stats to back that up.
Backstop
Gary Sanchez is not a good defensive catcher. According to the numbers, he is one if the worst defenders at his position. In 41 games behind the plate this year, Sanchez led the league with five passed balls, and this isn’t a rare occurrence. In 2017 and 2018, Sanchez led the league in passed balls with 16 and 18 respectively. Also, Sanchez’s caught stealing percentage has gone down every year but one since his rookie campaign in 2016. He posted a 41% caught stealing that year. Despite that impressive number, it dropped to 38% in 2017 t0 30% in 2018 all the way to 23% in 2019. Also, in his five-year MLB career, Sanchez has seen a total of 52 passed balls and 162 wild pitches.
Although not appearing in nearly as many games as Sanchez this season, Higashioka’s numbers show a 38% caught stealing percentage, and he saw only one passed ball and two wild pitches in 13 games.
Championship Win Probability Added for Offensive Player, or cWPA, is the number of percentage points the player increases or decreases their team’s chances of winning the World Series. For Sanchez, his career cWPA is -13.7 %and -1.5% this year. Higashioka’s cWPA this year is 0.5%. Simply put, the Yankees have a better chance of winning this year with Higashioka behind the plate.
Let’s look at proof of that.
Ace of the Staff
Without a doubt, Gerrit Cole is the Yankees number one starter and ace of their pitching staff. He pitched to both Sanchez and Higashioka this year and the regular season numbers are telling. With Sanchez catching, Cole was 4-2 with a 3.91 ERA. With Higashioka, Cole was 3-1 with a 1.00 ERA. These splits led Yankees manager Aaron Boone to name Kyle Higashioka the opening playoff starter instead of Gary Sanchez despite Sanchez having much more postseason experience.
Cole gives the Yankees the best chance to win when he is on the mound. And, according to the numbers, those odds increase when he is throwing to Higgy. Moving forward, the battery of Cole to Higashioaka could be the norm.
A Brief Look Ahead
The Yankees have to win their game against the Tampa Bay Rays Friday if they want to continue their playoff journey. Regardless of what happens the rest of the postseason, Kyle Higashioka has proven that, with regular playing time, he is a more than capable starting catcher. A lot of Yankee fans are hoping that the organization makes a run at top free agent J.T. Realmuto. However, the answer fans are looking for may already be on the team. Hopefully, Higashioka will have more postseason games to prove his worth.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
