How Jose Trevino Helped Kyle Higashioka End His Home Run Drought
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NEW YORK — As Kyle Higashioka approached home plate in the third inning on Sunday afternoon, rounding the bases after swatting his first home run of the season, the catcher pointed to the Yankees' dugout, cracking a huge smile.
That quick gesture was directed to one of his teammates in particular, a player that pulled him aside before he went yard with a quick suggestion about his swing.
"I actually got some good advice from [Jose Trevino] in the dugout after my first at-bat," Higashioka revealed after the game, an 18-4 win for the Yankees over the Cubs. "For some reason, it just clicked everything into place. Gotta give credit to my man Trevy."
While Higashioka has been struggling to start this season, going homerless with a .148 batting average and .399 OPS over his first 34 games of the year, Trevino has blossomed in pinstripes. The backstop has been one of the best catchers in the sport when it comes to framing behind the plate, hitting .309/.356/.505 with five home runs while recording multiple walk-off hits.
To put it another way, Higashioka has been losing playing time due to Trevino's success.
So why would Trevino try to help Higashioka snap out of his extended slump at the plate when that could end up cutting into his starts down the road?
"Both of our main goals are to win every single game that we play," Higashioka explained. "Whether we're playing or on the bench, we're trying to help each other to have as good a game possible defensively and offensively so that we can win as many games as possible."
Higashioka wouldn't say specifically what Trevino pointed out about his swing. He didn't want to give any opposing pitchers any hints. But he did reveal that Trevino saw something in how he was using his lower half when he flew out to right field in the first inning.
"As soon as I fixed that, that seemed to be the ticket," Higashioka said.
Higashioka's home run came on the first pitch of his next at-bat, a line drive over the wall in left off Cubs lefty Derek Norris that shot through the air at 105.9 mph. The backstop added his second long ball of the day—and the season—later on off Chicago's first baseman Frank Schwindel, a towering blast on a pitch clocked at 35.1 mph.
"That was pretty funny," he said.
Higashioka hadn't homered in a regular season game since September 11 of last year. This comes after the 32-year-old belted seven homers during Grapefruit League play this spring, positioning himself for a big year with plenty of playing time after the departure of Gary Sánchez.
"You know it's in there after the spring that he had," Yankees starter Jameson Taillon said Sunday. "He's been battling. He's been doing a great job at catching still, he doesn't let the at-bats carry over to catching and game calling and working with his pitchers. Happy for him, everyone was extremely happy for him."
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