Aaron Boone Explains Decision to Start Jose Trevino Over Kyle Higashioka in ALDS
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NEW YORK — Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka did everything he possibly could to earn a spot in New York's starting lineup to begin the playoffs, hitting .354 with a .956 OPS over his final 15 games of the regular season.
Manager Aaron Boone instead elected to pencil All-Star Jose Trevino in behind the plate in each of the first two games of the American League Division Series against the Guardians.
While Higashioka had the hot hand offensively, Trevino was struggling to finish up his breakout campaign. The backstop was batting .177/.203/.258 in the month of September and October, leading up to Game 162 last week.
Regardless of how New York's catchers finished up the regular season, it doesn't sound like Boone deliberated too much when writing Trevino's name into the starting lineup.
"I just think Trevi has emerged as the one," Boone explained before Friday's Game 2 in the Bronx. "Although I still kind of consider him 1A and [Higashioka] 1B. Higgy has played well and swung the bat well down the stretch. We have a lot of confidence when he's back there and he's going to be back there at some point. Just feel like Trevi is the way I wanted to go again today."
Trevino went 0-for-2 in his postseason debut on Tuesday, but he still made a significant impact, driving home the go-ahead run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly.
His defense has also been an underrated storyline all season long. Trevino led all big-league catchers in defensive runs saved (per FanGraphs) as well as Statcast's framing metric.
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