Gerrit Cole’s Switch to Jose Trevino was ‘Seamless’
There was a wrinkle behind the plate for Gerrit Cole’s best start of the 2022 season.
The Yankees ace, for the first time, threw to Jose Trevino on Sunday. Kyle Higashioka has been Cole’s primary catcher since the righty joined the organization, but Aaron Boone switched things up for New York’s 10-2, sweep-clinching win over the Guardians.
"Just something I want to have the ability to do,” the manager said pregame. “I feel great about both guys and their abilities behind the plate. Just felt like today was the day to do that."
Coincidence or not, Boone’s decision overlapped with Cole’s first gem of the year. He rebounded from an abnormal outing against the Tigers and held Cleveland scoreless over 6.2 innings. Cole struck out nine and walked just one after issuing five free passes over 1.2 innings in Detroit.
Boone told Cole ahead of time that he was thinking about a battery with Trevino. Cole, who struggled in his first three starts before Sunday, didn’t have an issue with it. After the game, he said pitching to Trevino was “seamless,” though he credited both of New York’s catchers for the team’s rotation success against the Guardians. Yankees starters allowed just three earned runs in the series.
“We got kind of a two-headed monster back there right now,” Cole said. “That fluidity throughout the entire series, both with Higgy and Jose just communicating, there was a lot of continuity on what we wanted to do with these hitters. Everybody was in a good spot based on our preparation.”
Trevino said much of the same, adding that “going over scouting reports before the game and going over what our plan was, it was pretty similar from the start. So being on the same page throughout the game was pretty good.”
Trevino, acquired from Texas on April 2, has seen an uptick in playing time, starting three of the last four games over Higashioka. Both catchers are considered talented defenders, but Trevino has outproduced Higashioka at the plate in the early going.
While Trevino doesn’t have a base knock in his last three games, he is slashing .278/.316/.333 with three runs, five hits, a double and two RBI over 19 plate appearances. He’s only walked once, but he’s also only struck out once.
Those are not outstanding numbers, but Higashioka is hitting a mere .121/.143/.152 over 36 plate appearances. He has four total hits, one RBI and has yet to go deep after enjoying a spring training power surge.
Neither catcher is expected to be an offensive force, but right now the Yankees are getting more from Trevino in the batter’s box. With both players well-regarded receivers, Boone feels the team’s catching situation is in a solid spot.
“It did seem seamless, and that’s a great thing,” Boone said after Sunday’s game when asked about Cole and Trevino. “Moving forward, [I] just feel like we’ve got two guys who are very capable back there and I feel like our entire staff feels that way, too.”
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