Yankees: Four Takeaways From Spring Training 2017 So Far

Is Austin Romine The Best The Yankees Can Do

The role of a backup catcher usually belongs to a light-hitting veteran with good defensive skills who is not a complainer about the playing time he gets. That’s Austin Romine in a nutshell.

At the age of 28, His career line reads, .222 BA, .256 OBP, .586 OPS, and in 334 at-bats he has five home runs. It’s not much of a sample, but you get the idea.

The Yankees, to their credit, are sticking with Romine and there is no talk of his not keeping the backup role for the foreseeable future, but the question is, should there be.

Recently retired David Ross, who in many ways led the Cubs to a World Championship, made a career out of being a backup with numbers like Romine’s. But Ross also brought an element of leadership to a team that, while they weren’t necessarily looking for it, they certainly appreciated the contribution.

As of today, Austin Romine has not ascended to the level of being a leader on the Yankees. And it’s more like he’s on the team because, well, somebody has to be a backup catcher. Even so, it’s not as much a case of getting rid of Romine as it is finding an upgrade.

Improvement will not come anytime soon from the farm system. Of the Yankees Top 30 Prospects, you have to go all the way down to #26 where you’ll find Donny Sands, who with only 30 games of minor league experience is a long ways away from the Bronx.

For Romine, this year’s Spring Training has been more of the same (4 hits in 14 at-bats, no home runs, no RBI).

The Yankees can do better than this. Brian Cashman knows better than me, but here’s a list of the remaining free agent catchers provided by Spotrac that he can take a look at. Which leads to the next page.

Or better still, maybe the Yankees can do better with Kyle Higashioka, who has four hits this Spring in six trips to the plate…………