Yankees: Jim Leyritz answers some questions about the ’96 team and his career

MG:
Any tips you have for an aspiring catcher?
JL:
The most important thing that I try to teach catchers is what they call ‘thumb up’. Whenever the pitcher gets ready to throw, you put your thumb up, kind of like you’re giving the thumbs up sign with your glove so you don’t get what I call ‘thumbed’ when you get your pitch. This way, you can handle the inside pitch just as well as you can handle the outside pitch. My advice for young catchers is to learn how to frame a baseball because if you can frame the pitch, you will help your pitcher tremendously.

More from Yankees News

• Guy who caught Aaron Judge record HR ball cost himself tons of money in auction
• Did Yankees fans bully Hal Steinbrenner into signing Aaron Judge, Carlos Rodón?
• Andrew Benintendi-White Sox deal proves Yankees were right to prioritize Carlos Rodón
• Twins already bailing on Gary Sánchez emphasizes Yankees’ trade failure
• New Yankees No. 2 Carlos Rodón hates Astros, dominates them

MG:
Recently it seems that there have been more injuries in baseball. They used to be slowly but surely seem like the numbers. I mean this year the entire Yankee roster was injured. Can you share an opinion why you think that is?
JL:
You’ll laugh at this, but Mr. Steinbrenner wanted me to weigh 207 lb instead of 220 lb. I said, Mr. Steinbrenner, I can be 207 lb and have no body fat and I’m going to pull something. You can’t pull fat! He was fine with it after that. For the first nine years of my career, I was never hurt besides for when I was hit by a pitch. I was very durable.

MG:
Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions!
JL:
It’s been a pleasure! Thank you for having me.