Trevino proving to be NY’s best option at catcher
NEW YORK — Jose Trevino was making his 38th start Saturday night. The catcher who was brought in to platoon with Kyle Higashioka is establishing himself as the Yankees’ best option behind the plate, and at it.
“He certainly has earned being in there, but I love what we have going on with those guys,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, we want to get Higgy going a little bit at the plate but Jose certainly earned more opportunities.”
Trevino hit a pinchhit walk-off single in the Yankees’ 13-inning win over the Cubs on Friday night and his offense has been what pitching coach Dillon Lawson called “a huge bonus.” Going into Saturday night’s game, Trevino was hitting .290/.340/.462 with an .802 OPS and 131 OPS+. In his previous four seasons, the closest Trevino got to a 100 OPS+, which is the average, is 94 in 2020 with the Rangers.
The Yankees pitchers also like pitching to him. They have a .244 ERA and .205 batting average against with
Trevino behind the plate.
“He’s been such a critical figure in the room and being a part of that winning culture that I feel like those guys have done a great job of creating, fostering and nurturing and pouring into,” Boone said. “He’s been right in the middle of all that and I think he’s clearly thriving and loves being a part of it.”
More free baseball: It’s been a while since the Yankees played a game that long. Friday night, going 13 innings was the longest game in terms of innings the Yankees have played since 2019. MLB instituted the extra-inning rule that puts a runner on second base in 2020 in the hopes of limiting endless games — which seems to have worked.
“With the extra-inning rules you don’t necessarily expect one to go that long,” Boone said . ... After playing their longest game — in terms of innings — since 2019, Boone was looking to get some veterans off their feet on Saturday. DJ LeMahieu was out of the lineup against the Cubs and Aaron Judge was the designated hitter instead of playing the outfield.