2018 New York Yankees state of the system: Catchers

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Gary Sanchez has established himself as a top-three catcher in all of baseball. But aside from him, the Yankees are thinner behind the plate than they’ve been in recent years.

At the major league level, Gary Sanchez’s studliness is obvious. He lit the Bronx on fire by smacking 20 home runs in 53 games as a Yankees rookie in 2016.

Then, in his first full season, El Gary rode 33 dingers, 90 RBI and a batting line of .278/.345/.531 to a Silver Slugger Award and an All-Star appearance. He’s got one of the best-throwing arms you’ll ever see.

Plus, he showed some serious cojones when he unseated Giancarlo Stanton in last summer’s Home Run Derby.

The dude is 25 years old. He’s already the best catcher in the American League (sorry, Salvador Perez), both now and for the future. Aside from Buster Posey, he’s probably the best catcher in the world.

Sanchez’s biggest weakness last season was the passed ball. A league-leading 16 of them, to be exact. However: a) the Yankees staff is insanely difficult to catch, what with Tanaka and Robertson throwing nothing but dirtballs, and b) he tightened up in the playoffs.

The defense will improve going forward. Again, Sanchez just turned 25 in December. He’ll figure out how to block better.

The other knock on Gary was his .192 playoff batting average and .214 playoff OBP. For such a talented hitter, he was insanely un-clutch. But playoff performances will improve with time.

As he plays in more Postseason games, there’s little doubt that Sanchez will grow comfortable enough to hit like the superstar he is. Notably, Sanchez did not allow any passed balls in 13 playoff games.

I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that Sanchez has a chance — a chance — to be the best Yankees catcher since Yogi Berra. Better than Posada, better than Munson.

I’m not saying it will happen. But Sanchez is already one of the best hitters in the game at any position. If Gary becomes a plus defender, he will be one of the very best players of his generation.

Behind Sanchez, the Yankees seem content to give Austin Romine another season as the second catcher.

It will be Romine’s third season as the team’s primary backup. Although he doesn’t hit at all (.218/.272/.293 with two home runs in 80 games last year), Romine is a sturdy defender and a trusted receiver.

He’s not great, but he’s good enough. Romine has the confidence of the coaching staff. If he didn’t, Cashman would have brought in another fringe catcher to compete with him.

Romine is out of options, so this might be his last year in pinstripes. He’s been with the team for a long time. Remember, he made his debut all the way back in 2011.

His finest moment has to be last August’s tussle with Miguel Cabrera. He evaded several punches before dropping the former MVP like a bad habit. Talk about cojones. That’s a guy I want on my team.

Triple-A

27-year-old Kyle Higashioka will be the starting catcher in Scranton. Higgy made his major league debut last spring, appearing in nine games and going hitless in 18 at-bats.

Incredibly, this will be his 11th season in the system. The Yankees picked him in the 7th round of the 2008 draft out of Edison High School in California.

He’s a tremendous defensive catcher who broke out with the bat in 2016. Between Trenton and Scranton that year, Higashioka swatted 21 home runs and batted .276. He put himself on the big league radar.

But injuries have always been Higashioka’s nemesis. He played in just 30 games total last year due to a rib cage injury. He missed almost all of 2013 and 2014 after having Tommy John surgery. In fact, 2016 was the only season in which Higgy played in over 100 games.

If he stays healthy, Higashioka should get another crack at big league playing time in 2018. Hardly any team makes it all the way through the year with just two catchers. There’s enough evidence that Higashioka might be a capable major league backup. But he needs to stay healthy.

Higashioka is currently on the 40-man roster.

Then there is 37-year-old Erik Kratz who is back with the organization after a four-game cameo last September. Right now, the plan is for Kratz to back up Higashioka in Scranton. Still, there’s a chance Kratz is pressed into a more significant role, either as the Triple-A starter or as the major league backup.

Kratz has made eight stops with six different teams throughout an eight-year major league odyssey. He’s a career .203 hitter at the big league level, although he was 2-for-2 with a double with New York last September.

Kratz is not on the 40-man roster.

Double-A

The Yankees have three catchers slated for Trenton. I’m not sure that they’ll all wind up there, but for the sake of this article, they’re going to be grouped. All three of them will likely be invited to Spring Training.

In Double-A, the Yankees have an okay crop of depth guys. None of them are likely to make an impact at the major league level.

27-year-old Jorge Saez figures to be the Thunder’s starter. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Saez was in Spring Training last year with the big club.

Saez, who the Yankees picked up two winters ago as a minor league free agent from the Blue Jays, posted a more-than-solid .249/.350/.423 slash with nine home runs in 63 games in Trenton last summer.

He should get somewhat of an extended look in Spring Training, mostly because the team might need him at Triple-A at some point. Between Higashioka’s health and Kratz’s age, Saez is probably next in line.

Saez’s main competition is recent acquisition Chace Numata, whom the Yankees scooped up as a minor league free agent several weeks ago. The Yankees signed the 25-year-old Hawaiian away from the Phillies.

Numata managed a .249/.318/.351 batting line with minimal power in 84 games at Double-A Reading last season.

The Thunder will likely feature Saez and Numata as co-catchers and give them each playing time until one of them separates himself. Numata is a little younger, but Saez was a bit more productive last year.

There’s also 27-year-old Francisco Diaz, a native of Venezuela, who was in Spring Training with the club each of the last two seasons.

A minor league lifer, Diaz has plugged away in the Phillies and Yankees’ systems for a dozen years. He’s played six career games at Triple-A, and that’s it. No doubt, you could circle the globe more than once with all the bus mileage he’s racked up over the years.

Diaz batted .228 with no homers in 48 games with Trenton last year. He’s strictly depth and will likely be one of the first catchers trimmed from the roster in March.

High-A

The Yankees’ only legitimate catching prospect is 21-year-old Donny Sands, who wrapped up his 2017 season with 17 games in Tampa. A converted third baseman, Sands was the Yanks’ 8th round pick in 2015.

Sands spent most of 2017 in Charleston but tore up the Florida State League following the promotion. It’s a small sample, but he still hit .306/.353/.484. Given a full year at the High-A level, Sands’ bat makes him intriguing.

He was pegged as the team’s 23rd best prospect at the end of last season by MLB.com.

Sands has the tools to be an above-average defensive catcher, but with only 119 career games behind the plate, he’s going to need more reps. He has a smooth right-handed swing but features mostly gap-to-gap power. However, his 6’2″ frame suggests he might develop into more of a power hitter later on.

Low-A

23-year-old Ryan Lidge was the team’s 20th round pick last summer out of Notre Dame. After seven games with rookie-level Pulaski, the Yankees promoted him to Single-A Charleston where batted an obscene .383 with a .500 OBP in 47 at-bats. Lidge should reprise his role as the RiverDogs’ starter in 2018.

The Rest

22-year-old Dominican Victor Rey completed his second full season in Pulaski last year and posted a respectable .280 average and .356 OBP. Another converted infielder, Rey needs a little more time in Rookie ball but could be bumped up to Charleston at midseason. He’s started just 43 games behind the plate.