Yanks ready to give Cole-Sanchez another shot JUMPIN’ THE BATTERY
DUNEDIN — Sunday, against the Blue Jays, Gerrit Cole had Kyle Higashioka behind the plate to catch his tune-up for the club he will face on Opening Day. Come April 1, however, the Yankees expect their ace to work with Gary Sanchez again.
“I would expect Gary to be behind there on Opening Day,” Aaron Boone said Sunday morning, before the Yankees’ 8-3 victory at TD Bank park.
Cole ended his first season with the Yankees exclusively pitching to Higashioka.
Sanchez’s struggles at the plate in 2020 made it easier for Boone to give Cole his personal catcher. This spring, however, Sanchez has shown results from shortening his swing. He has been praised by the pitchers, including Cole, for his work to improve as a catcher. The Yankees had Sanchez catching Cole fairly regularly up until the last two weeks.
After a dominating five innings Sunday, Cole said he’s heard good things about Sanchez this season.
“He’s getting really good reviews. I pitched up quite a bit earlier in the camp. We haven’t lined up lately, but I’m not evaluating the players,” Cole said. “I’m not hearing anything negative.”
Working with Higashioka Sunday, Cole allowed one run — a home run to Marcus Semien — on four hits. He walked one and struck out eight in what will likely be his longest outing of the spring.
“Gerrit was great. Had everything going on stuff wise and was really good,” Boone said. “I think had a good amount of adrenaline going and got his pitch count up to where it needed to be and I thought really executed all of his pitches and in a pretty good fashion.”
Boone said the pairing of Cole and Higashioka on Sunday was out of necessity after Higashioka missed a few games with a sore side.
“No it’s just, with Higgy being out there for a couple days and then coming out of the off day I wanted to play Gary back-to-back days,” Boone said. “So it’s just that.”
But Cole has clearly been more comfortable with Higashioka . “I think all our catchers have come in, super prepared, working hard, everybody’s been healthy for the most part. It’s good to see Kyle out there today and feeling good,” Cole said. “I’ve gotten to work with everybody and we’re really laying a good foundation as a group ... so a lot of positives.”
Still, it’s somewhat of a surprise that
the Yankees would not allow Cole to continue his work with his preferred catcher in the 2021 season. The Yankees made the switch to the Cole-Higashioka battery in September. The Yankees’ ace went 5-1 with a 1.79 ERA and a .165 batting average against in seven starts with Higashioka behind the plate. In his first eight starts of 2020, with Sanchez behind the plate, Cole went 4-2 with a 3.91 ERA and a .224 opponents batting average.
Sanchez has said he is much more comfortable this year using the one-knee down stance that new Yankees’ catching coordinator Tanner Swanson implemented last season. He also was pretty proactive about working with Cole this spring.
“We’ve been working a lot here in spring training. I’ve caught him. I caught a couple of bullpens and a couple of live sessions with him,” Sanchez said earlier this month. “The idea was to get on the same page and work together seamlessly. I’m trying to do the best I can to help him. He’s also going to help me and having a year of experience catching him also helps.”
The move to Higsahioka was easier for the Yankees because Sanchez’s bat was brutal last season. He slashed .147/.253/.365 with 64 strikeouts in 156 at-bats. According to Baseball Savant, Sanchez was in the bottom two percentile of strikeout percentage and bottom 11 percentile of whiff percentage. o far this spring, Sanchez has shown his power is back with four monster home runs. In 31 at-bats, the 28year old is hitting .194 with 11 strikeouts and no walks.
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