{"id":63616,"date":"2025-06-23T16:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=63616"},"modified":"2025-06-23T16:36:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:36:00","slug":"this-rangers-catcher-has-quickly-developed-a-solid-rapport-with-the-pitching-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=63616","title":{"rendered":"This Rangers catcher has quickly developed a solid rapport with the pitching staff"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full\" title=\"Texas Rangers v Minnesota Twins\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_161,w_5663,h_3185\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/132\/01jyaax6m65326r95aax.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Rangers v Minnesota Twins\" width=\"5663\" height=\"3185\" data-uw-rm-alt-original=\"Texas Rangers v Minnesota Twins\" data-uw-rm-alt=\"ALT\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p>Texas Rangers v Minnesota Twins | Stephen Maturen\/GettyImages<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">President of baseball operations Chris Young and the Rangers knew exactly what they were getting when they signed catcher Kyle Higashioka to a two-year $13,5 million contract this past winter.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">They knew that Higashioka was particularly adept at forming relationships with the pitchers he caught and calling smart games. Since his rookie year in 2017, &#8220;Higgy&#8221; has been one of the best callers of games behind the plate with the Yankees in the Bronx for seven seasons and the Padres last year.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-2\">Kyle Higashioka has the second-best games caught ERA in the league<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">Behind only the Kansas City Royals backstop Freddy Fermin, Higgy has the second-best games caught ERA throughout Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">Whenever Higashioka is behind the plate, the Rangers pitching staff has a 2.69 ERA, nearly a full run lower than the 3.55 ERA they post with Jonah Heim, another strong defensive catcher.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">The Rangers&#8217; pitchers have been outstanding, hitting their spots this season, and that is a huge part of that number. Nonetheless, they also need to have faith in Higashioka to make the right call behind the plate and to be a plus-defender on balls in the dirt and throwing out baserunners.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-6\">Whatever Higgy gives to the Rangers offensively is a bonus<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">A catcher who calls good games and is dependable with the entire staff is more important than a catcher who can hit but is poor in the other aspects of the position.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">So far this season, Higgy has been average at the plate, hitting .231 with one homer and 16 RBIs in a backup role. The Rangers and Bruce Bochy will gladly take his command and rapport with the pitching staff over big numbers with the bat.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">Higgy&#8217;s ability to adapt to a bevy of hurlers on the fly is an often-overlooked quality in a major league catcher, and he is one of the best.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President of baseball operations Chris Young and the Rangers organization knew exactly what they were getting when they signed catcher Kyle Higashioka to a two-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This Rangers catcher has quickly developed a solid rapport with the pitching staff - 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