DUNEDIN, Florida – When the Yankees hit the pitch on opening day, all eyes will be on Gerrit Cole. The right-hander will pitch for the crowd at Yankee Stadium for the first time, with the goal of starting the season with a performance in the stripes.
At this point in the spring, we weren’t sure who would be behind the sign for Cole when he faced the Blue Jays on April 1st.
Yankees coach Aaron Boone answered that question on Sunday morning.
“I hoped Gary was back on Opening Day,” said Boone ahead of Sunday afternoon’s spring training exhibition game against the same Blue Jays.
On the surface, this is not shocking news.
Sánchez has been the Yankees’ opening defender on Opening Day for each of the past four seasons. Even after his disappointing year in 2020, the club’s technical team (as well as general manager Brian Cashman) made it clear this spring that Sánchez will have another chance in 2021 to prove himself.
Considering how well Cole launched last year with Kyle Higashioka behind the board, however, there is a bit of intrigue added to this decision.
The difference in the right-handed divisions between the two stops is stark. Cole made eight regular games of the season with Sánchez behind the plate last year, shooting for an ERA of 3.91 out of 46 pitches. Playing for Higashioka, more than four games and 27 entries launched, Cole posted a spectacular ERA 1.00.
Cole allowed 12 of his 14 home runs in the regular season in the shortened campaign when he launched for Sánchez.
At the end of the season, taking into account Sánchez’s struggles in the hitter’s area, the 28-year-old had lost his starting position. In fact, in the postseason, Higashioka was behind the plate in all three of Cole’s matches.
Even with Higashioka starting Sunday in Dunedin, taking Cole’s penultimate departure from spring training, Sánchez will start the year behind the plate for the ace.
Higashioka was recently dismissed because of pain in the sides. Boone explained that the decision not to send Sánchez to pick up Cole on Sunday had absolutely nothing to do with the opening day and regular season playing time.
“With Higgy staying out for a few days and then leaving the day off, I wanted to play Gary on consecutive days. So that’s it,” he said.
As the season progresses, we will likely see Higashioka working with Cole on several occasions. Although he was a reserve player throughout his major league career, Higashioka showed last year – playing significant games against Sánchez in the final stretch – that he is capable of playing on both sides of the ball.
That said, it’s Sánchez’s job from the start.
The backstop spoke frequently this spring about the improvements he made in this off-season and the adjustments he made to his swing to recover in 2021. Although it has cooled significantly in the last few weeks of exhibition games, the counterattack roared offensively earlier this month.
In his first five games of the spring, Sánchez was reaching about 0.400 with three expanding home runs. Now, after 13 games, the receiver is hitting 0.194 (6 out of 31).