From A’s farmhand to Yankee Stadium
NEW YORK — As the Yankees finished batting practice and left the field Monday afternoon, their bullpen catcher stayed behind, exchanging hugs and talking with the Oakland Athletics’ players and coaches.
Collin Theroux, in his first year on the Yankees’ staff, spent the past six seasons playing in the A’s minorleague system. The San Mateo native went to Serra High before the A’s drafted him in the 32nd round from Oklahoma State in 2016. He came up with a number of players on their current roster.
“He’s the best — I love Collin,” A’s hitting coach Tommy Everidge said. “Always working hard, he’s tremendous with pitchers. He could catch and throw with the best of them.”
Theroux, 28, reached Triple-A with Oakland’s farm system — he hit .159 with 42 homers in 330 minor-league games — before stepping away as a player and taking the Yankees’ role in January.
“I kind of knew where I stood as a backup guy, and I know a lot of people don’t get a chance to take the next step right away after baseball,” Theroux said Monday. “I was able to talk to (A’s farm director Ed Sprague) and (assistant general manager) Billy Owens and they were really honest with me and thought it would be good for me. So that kind of helped me ease into it, I think, and feel like it was the right time.”
Theroux said his new role is “awesome. My favorite part of the game is working with pitchers, trying to help them any way I can, so it suits me. And obviously, I get to catch incredible dudes every day.”
Along with warming up relievers in-game, the bullpen catcher receives pitchers’ side sessions, provides feedback and sometimes throws batting practice. It is a physical job but can lead to other opportunities; the current manager at the A’s High-A Lansing affiliate, Phil Pohl, was their bullpen catcher for six years.
“In the interview process, (the Yankees) wanted me to have aspirations and want to learn and grow,” Theroux said. “I don’t have anything specific in mind, but the amount I’ve learned here from every individual person on the staff has been invaluable.”
It doesn’t hurt that the Yankees entered Monday with the best record (53-20) in MLB — plus the second-lowest bullpen ERA (2.84). Before he joined the Yankees, Theroux said, his girlfriend had moved to New York, “which was another thing that was like, maybe the stars are aligning. … There’s only a period of time in your life where you get to live in New York City and really soak it all in, so it’s been fun.”
“When I talked to people (about the transition), they were like, ‘Even if it’s not for you or you want to go do something else, you’ll never regret a year in the big leagues with the Yankees,’ ” Theroux said. “Every day I kind of have a moment where I’m like, ‘This is crazy.’ ”
Briefly: Right fielder Stephen Piscotty (calf ) is scheduled to join the A’s on Tuesday, after which the team will decide when to reinstate him from the injured list, manager Mark Kotsay said. … Infielder Jonah Bride had a visible cut on his nose from Sunday’s collision with Chad Pinder. He didn’t play Monday.