After the ‘shocking’ trade, longtime Yankees backstop remembers his time in pinstripes warmly.
When he walked to the plate, he listened to the applause. When signing autographs, he stated he appreciated the “little interactions.”
He chuckled as he remembered the spectators behind the bullpen, whose chants pumped him up before games.
“I don’t know if any other non-everyday player feels that kind of love and support from a fan base in many other areas,” Higashioka said by phone Wednesday when asked about his message to Yankees fans. “I guess just a big, ‘Thank you.'”
There weren’t many non-everyday players like Higashioka, who played for the Yankees for 16 years before being traded to the Padres in last month’s Juan Soto transaction.
The long-time backup said the change was “kind of shocking,” but so was his meteoric climb.
The California high school catcher was picked in the seventh round in 2008, the same draft that delivered the Giants the now-retired Buster Posey and the Mets Ike Davis, who last played in the majors in 2016.
Higashioka’s ascent was constantly derailed.
During a two-year timeframe in which he appeared in 24 games, he had Tommy John surgery in 2013 and a fractured thumb in 2014.
In 2015, he was demoted to High-A Tampa since Brian McCann was the major league catcher, Austin Romine started at Triple-A, and Gary Sánchez caught at Double-A.
He was passed up by numerous competing catchers and spent the majority of his year-25 season in the tiny Florida State League, which was the only place he could get consistent playing time.
He improved as a pitch-framer, and a swing he modified to get the ball higher in the air began to bear fruit.
He advanced to Double-A the next season and played one Triple-A game in 2017 until Sánchez’s injury opened the way to the majors for Higashioka, who endured nine minor league seasons before breaking into the big.
“I went through a few tough years in the minors to start my career,” Higashioka, speaking from his home in Oregon, said. “There were definitely times when I doubted whether or not I’d ever make it to the big leagues.” Just getting there and then having so many wonderful moments — both personally and as a team.”
Higashioka and his outstanding defensive game began to eat into Sánchez’s playing time in 2020, when Higgy recorded his first three-homer game at any level and rose to start three games during that year’s playoff run.
