The Rangers announced the signing of catcher Kyle Higashioka to a two-year contract with a mutual option for 2027. Higashioka, a Beverly Hills Sports Council client, is reportedly guaranteed $13.5MM. He’ll make successive salaries of $5.75MM and $6.75MM over the next two seasons. He’s also guaranteed a $1MM buyout on the ’27 option, which is valued at $7MM. The Rangers now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.
Higashioka was one of the top catchers in a weak free agent class. He’d been a first-time free agent even though he’ll turn 35 in April. Drafted out of high school by the Yankees in 2008, Higashioka spent nine seasons in the minors before he got his first big league call. He bounced on and off the MLB roster for another three years. It wasn’t until he’d exhausted his minor league options that he got a permanent big league job in 2020.
New York never gave Higashioka a look as a legitimate starting catcher. He spent four-plus seasons in a backup role while working as Gerrit Cole’s personal catcher. The Yankees packaged him to the Padres in last winter’s Juan Soto blockbuster. While San Diego was looking for a veteran backup who could work behind Luis Campusano, Higashioka was generally viewed as the final piece of their five-player Soto return.
The Huntington Beach native ended up as a surprisingly key contributor to San Diego’s 93-win team. Campusano struggled on both sides of the ball and eventually played his way off the big league roster. Higashioka, on the other hand, had the best season of his career. He hit a personal-high 17 home runs over 84 games. The longball made him a decent offensive player despite terrible on-base marks. Higashioka ran a bizarre .220/.263/.476 batting line over 267 trips to the plate.
Only 21 hitters (minimum 200 plate appearances) had a lower on-base percentage. Still, Higashioka is the only player who ranked among MLB’s bottom 30 in OBP who nevertheless graded as an above-average overall hitter by measure of wRC+ — a testament to his power production. By year’s end, Higashioka had overtaken Campusano as Mike Shildt’s starting catcher. He drilled three more homers in seven postseason games.
Higashioka has earned a solid defensive reputation. Statcast has looked favorably on his pitch framing skills, while he’s generally well-regarded for his ability to work with a pitching staff. Higashioka has struggled as a blocker in consecutive seasons, though. He was charged with nine passed balls across 665 2/3 innings this year. Only Francisco Alvarez (11) was charged with more. Korey Lee and Patrick Bailey tied Higashioka with nine passed balls, but they each caught 150+ more innings than he did. Statcast placed him in the bottom third of qualified catchers in average pop time, though his 20% caught stealing rate was in line with the MLB average.
The on-base deficiencies and perhaps some concern about his arm strength have kept Higashioka from getting a full-time starting job. He has never tallied 300 plate appearances in an MLB season. Teams have viewed him more as a high-quality backup than a true #1 catcher.
Texas has 2023 All-Star Jonah Heim as their primary option behind the plate. Heim had a disappointing ’24 campaign, slumping to a .220/.267/.336 line over 491 plate appearances. Heim has topped 125 games in three straight seasons. Between the regular season and playoffs, he appeared in 148 contests in 2023. Higashioka isn’t likely to supplant him as the starting catcher, but the veteran’s presence could allow manager Bruce Bochy to scale back Heim’s workload by 15-20 games.
Texas got almost nothing out of backup catcher Andrew Knizner for the first few months of the season. The Rangers acquired Carson Kelly at the deadline, but he stumbled to a .235/.291/.343 showing in 31 games. With Kelly hitting free agency, GM Chris Young and his staff targeted Higashioka to hopefully solidify the catching corps.
RosterResource now calculates the Rangers’ payroll around $185MM, while they have about $195MM in luxury tax obligations. Texas reportedly intends to stay underneath the tax threshold in 2025. They’ve got around $46MM in breathing room before they hit that mark, though it’s unclear precisely where ownership will draw the line as the Rangers try to arrange a new setup for their in-market local broadcasting.
Higashioka’s deal meets expectations. MLBTR predicted he’d receive a two-year, $15MM pact that’s marginally higher than what he actually landed. Four free agent catchers have come off the board within the first few weeks of the offseason. Higashioka joins Travis d’Arnaud as recipients of multi-year deals, while Jacob Stallings and Austin Hedges each signed for one guaranteed season. Alongside Kelly, Danny Jansen stands as the top free agent for teams looking for help behind the dish.
The Padres are one of those clubs. Higashioka’s departure leaves the Padres with an obvious need behind the plate. Campusano and Brett Sullivan are the only catchers on their 40-man roster. Neither looks like a viable starter for a team with postseason aspirations. Top prospect Ethan Salas is hopefully the long-term solution, but the teenager is unlikely to make an MLB impact by next season.
Jon Morosi of the MLB Network first reported the Rangers and Higashioka were making progress on an agreement. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News confirmed the deal was in place. Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reported the salary breakdown. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
I liked him in San Diego. Too bad the Padres built the team like a house of financial cards.
More of that BS, ‘Padres are broke’ narrative.
You want to lose a passionate Padres fan base play the “budget” card.
Spend money and fans will show, don’t and they won’t. Plain and simple.
Higgy was the best. Wishing him well with the Rangers!
Not sure what you want. The Pads clearly are not going to be playing in the deep end, or possibly even the medium end, of free agency this offseason. Clearly, losing the Bally Sports TV money is having an adverse effect on their finances.
The fans have showed up, in spades. They might show up less if Preller is not able to somehow generate excitement heading into 2025.
It is both true that the Pads are tightening their fiscal belt, and the fans may not turn out as much because of it.
The “TV money” narrative has no real merit unless the books are opened and fans can view for themselves the financial state of the team.
Without the future TV dollars, the Padres were laying these big contracts on its going to now put Preller under the gun to pull off more Soto deals to get the talent to be in contention the fans expect now every year. They are a payroll budget franchise now just like 26 of the 30 teams are now. It goes year by year for these teams, where season ticket holders’ matter, marketing, and advertising dollars instead of the future sports TV dollars.
@towinagain
Take the value of what the TV deal was, and extrapolate the likelihood of the Padres replacing that money via their current direct-to-consumer model. It is not a high likelihood.
The owners are always pocketing the money to you, aren’t they?
Again explain the TV deal to a 9 or 10 year old Padres fan, passionate about his childhood team.
Explain why the Padres traded away an Tatis or Mannny to remain “competitive”.
Let’s be honest, a majority of fans do not want a detailed explanation as to why the Padres can’t spend money on the team.
If they aren’t spending and it equates to a mediocre team on the field then fans won’t show.
@towinagain
“Hey, little Timmy. We expected millions of dollars from a TV deal, and now those dollars won’t be there anymore. We cannot defecate out new dollars, so we need to adjust strategy until we can find a replacement revenue stream.”
It’s not hard. Little Timmy is more reasonable than you.
It would help if Xman and the MLBPA would allow him to Re-negotiate his contract to help them to have some more $ to work with. (2033)
Defer some of it OR some other kind of LAD like financial engineering
And do you think little Timmy will support that wholeheartedly.
‘Ah thanks Dad, now I don’t feel so bad that the team traded Tatis because he was too expensive’
‘Even though Tatis is playing for the Dodgers, I am so glad the Padres saved some money!’
Tell that to a white sox fan. Lol
I am so glad the Padres saved some money!’
=========================
More like 18 year old Timmy got a Porsche for his birthday and is complaining that he did not get a Ferrari.
The Padres spent way above their means for a few years which was great, but they also backloaded a lot of those big deals and traded away the majority of their top prospects. Now they are stuck with those giant contracts which are still rising in cost and the need to resign/replace surprise contributors. It’s a super tough spot resulting from a mix of too much success and not enough recent prospect graduates.
The particulars may have some valid points but in the end the average fan doesn’t want an explanation just success.
If the team is successful fans will show. If it is underfunded, no matter the reason and not successful then fans won’t show.
Just facts.
@DH
Unfortunately true, from all appearances. The Pads expected the TV money to always be there. That was not a wise bet.
Of course, handing out that contract to Bogaerts was not wise either, TV money or not.
Not the best spot to be in. We’ll see how Preller puts this thing together.
Those average fans you speak of, do not buy season tickets.
That Xander signing made ZERO sense.
I’m less certain attendance at Petco would crash if Padrss don’t win. Team’s marketing emphasizes opportunities to drink outdoors with friends and play hat shuffle.
So.go.watch an underfunded team in say 2030 but hey the “experience” was great.
Going back to the 2014 Padres?
@Consigliore
Attendance won’t crash. It just may not be 3 million anymore. Save for 2009, the Pads have always drawn at least 2 million in the Petco Park era, even when the ballpark experience was all they had to sell.
Go away.
@Consigliore
Sounds like marketing from the Colorado Rockies.
@towinagain – why do Padres fans think that ownership isn’t spending money? They have five players making over $20 million AAV per year on long term deals, and continue to trade for players with high Arb salaries. More than half the league doesn’t have more than two such players on their roster
I don’t Padres fans wanting to spend more $. They are pretty awful at spending $. Let them make bad trades to get players. AJ expertise is building a farm system. That’s the way to go. Use $ on team friendly extensions of young players. Their awful contracts are holding them back.
@YourDreamGM – Cease, Arraez, and Adam were all really good players for them last year and had multiple years of control. That takes good prospects to make those trades. There is no way of knowing if those prospects will be any good either. So I don’t know how you can consider them “bad trades”
@Captain Cease trade was a win. Adam massive over pay. Obviously it’s hard to lose ever single trade. Musgrove trade was win. Other wins. But a lot of loses as well. There’s a reason SD gets all these players in trades. They pay the most! Sometimes it’s other teams not seeing the value and sometimes it’s a massive over pay. They just have one of the higher percentage of over pay.
He was the best last season for sure. Out of him arraez and profar. He is the least likely to repeat last seasons numbers. Good choice to let him walk
@Towinagain. So you’d rather give a 2 year deal for a back up when you Salas as a late season call up?
@Brew88 This isn’t solely about Higgy.
More or less replacing his production.
You really think a 19yr old catcher is going to be ready for a call up to back up Campusano?
Merrill was a revelation.
Calling up the kids because they are cost efficient and marketing that as a youth movement is a risky way to go.
Show us that you are calling up Salas because he is ready and I’ll buy that not because every other option is “too expensive”.
@Tow. I think they will bring in a back up this year but next year, yes I do think Salas is on the opening day roster. Word on the street is that Higgy wanted at least two years. I like him but not signing him for 2 years does make sense – and probably will make more sense as we see what AJP does next.
Lol
Tow- you act like the padres have a low payroll. They don’t, the issue is they have a ton of money tied up to manny, Tatis and Xander. With manny and Tatis only costing more in the future. They also don’t have the depth in the system right now that they have had previously.
I think we will see them shopping in late Jan-March looking for deals. Hopefully they land Sasaki.
They will find a stop gap Cather for cheap like Diaz. Left Field is going to be a challenge. Then some low cost guys like Solano and Peralta. If they don’t land Sasaki then it will more difficult. I don’t see them running a payroll of 170m. That is nearly impossible without blowing up the team.
I like the Padres and they way they approach it year to year, unafraid of making big trades to improve the club.
He had a career year. Gave San Diego some memorable moments. Padres fans will support him wherever he goes.
That being said. Overpaying for a C in his mid 30s coming off a career year isn’t something any franchise should be doing.
I am glad for him. The tutelage of Bruce Bochy and playing in a more tax-friendly state should set him up for a long coaching career.
I don’t think a “tax-friendly state” matters in player and coaching negotiations as much as you want it to, Crikes.
Sure it does Steinbrenner. I mean. Look at how much money Ohtani deferred to avoid paying California taxes. Obviously California being a not so friendly tax state was a major sticking point to Ohtani. Which is why his entire career earnings are deferred.
Ohtani is making more than most players just in endorsements. The deferrals likely more about financial security and inflating the overall contract #. That $700M # just further bolsters his brand and name. His contract is still talked about non stop.
Japan taxes are even higher then the US. So this notion he ll be avoiding taxes later on is not true either.
Between state of California and federal taxes Ohtani is paying upwards of 50% of his income in taxes
CA since he’s married it’s 12.3%
Federal its 37%
Japan it’s only 45%
Your math isn’t mathing.
why would he pay tax in Japan for income made in the US?
My prediction is 2 years 18 million with a mutual opt out (that always gets denied) in between
Seems a bit rich for a backup catcher on a team with a limited budget and 3 pitchers on the roster
Why wouldn’t want a serviceable offensive catcher that also has good defense? Rangers could also use him as a DH kind of like Gary Sanchez with the brewers
I never said he wasn’t welcomed. It just won’t be for anywhere near 18 million. I don’t see him getting much action at the DH spot unless he gets really hot vs lefties.
@ranger
I bet it’s more like 2/$12 to $18 mil. he rates better defensively and has more power. I suggest Heim show up in to shape. I can’t believe that Higgy couldn’t get a starting job elsewhere.
13 good guess
I was figuring as much as 15-18. So, not as high as we guessed but much more significant than a guy with his career at his age should have gotten.
2/8-9 was an end of year ballpark. The 2nd year guaranteed being the value to him as opposed to AAV.
He’s not getting $9M per as a part-time catcher. More like 2/9 with no opt-outs.
Boy was I off. Good for Higgy!
I think you were pretty close to 2/12.5, and not that far off. Nice.
Everyone is a part time catcher. The 50 50 workload seems to get closer and closer. And if a catcher can hit they get him time at dh 1b to keep him fresh. Catcher class is so weak if you don’t have a starter then a backup will be your starter. He’s worth 5 or 6. To get him this early you might had to go 7 and 2 years.
Um, okay, but who’s gonna be pitching to him, especially out of the bullpen? The Rangers need relief pitchers with a lot of the bullpen walking away in free agency.
Oh well, Higashioka wouldn’t cost much. The guy’s barely above replacement level for his career, though 2024 was his best season.
You do need both pitchers and catchers.
They need another catcher regardless
To be fair, Heim was pretty bad in 2024. Higashioka actually had a better bWAR mark for the season. Huff has been kicking around the minors forever but has never gotten much of a chance on the big club.
Still, I’d look to get Eovaldi back and fill some of the holes in the bullpen before bothering about a backup catcher. But Higashioka would not break the bank for the suddenly penny-pinching Rangers.
Relievers are the easiest and cheapest thing to get. Plenty left. Plenty of time.
Please don’t subject Padres fans to more of Luis Campusano. His insistence on ripping off Tony Batista’s batting stance without the requisite bat speed was uncalled for.
Not much in the way of other options as the roster currently exists. Preller has found gems out of nothing at the catcher position in each of the last three seasons, for what it’s worth (Jorge Alfaro, Gary Sanchez, Kyle Higashioka). Look like he will need to do it again.
Yankees would be happy to send former Gold Glover Jose Trevino to Padres for some bullpen help and/or lower level prospects. Only making around 2.5M and has two years left.
@Fernando
Trevino is an excellent backup catcher with an elite glove. Why would they give him away?
@Knicks – Yankees have 6 catchers on the 40man roster.
There are some interesting RP on the Padres like Jeremiah Estrada & LH Adrian Morejon.
Two smaller sample guys with lots of K in Sean Reynolds (big fastball) and Alex Jacob (plus changeup).
And a 2024 draftee (Tyson Neighbors) that has Yankee traits like plus slider, sweeper and high spin rates.
Estrada or Morejon and one of the other guys for Trevino?
Trevino (and maybe another piece) for Arraez. Padres dump some salary and get a catcher. Yankees improve their offense and get a 1B.
Arraez can’t play defense and we already have DH covered. I ‘m scared to say he is a worse defender than Torres at 2b — which is pretty bad.
For half that 15M, Yankees could just sign Carlos Santana for 1 year (and he’s a Gold Glover).
I see the padres bringing back Elias Diaz hoping he’s healthy and can rebound to his 2023 form.
@harrison
He wasn’t even that good in 2023
.267/.316/.409 with average or above average marks on defense behind the plate in 2023
For a catcher that’s actually really good production esp combined with average/above average defense.
@harrison
I somewhat agree, but…you should see his savant page for 2023 and 2024.
its…not very good.
Campusano suffers from some reported mental health issues that, considering age and his job, are a bad combination.
He’s NOT a good risk.
What are these reported mental health issues?
Definitely fits the Rangers catching brand. They love them some platoon power behind the dish and it’s been working for them for a while now. Thinking back to guys like Napoli and Chirinos.
Higgy is a good asset to have. Def think he has at least a few more healthy seasons in him too.
Catcher market is about to pop off!!!!!!
Whoop Whoop!
Predicted this one in my contest. Makes a lot of sense. Bochy is a former catcher too.
…they’re both former *Padres* catchers…
No! We want him in SD
He had a good year, line Sanchez before him. Even Alfaro before. As a 35 year old career backup and a short mlb career at that realities to his age, I don’t think a 2 year deal at the amount (presumed for now) that Rangers are paying just isn’t smart.
For a lot less money SD can put a not that much worse C on the field – Diaz, a healthy Campy or even give Sullivan a shot.
For the money I agree. But… I don’t believe in Campy or Sullivan. And I don’t think Diaz will be less either., only a year after his all-star campaign.
Diaz should have no comparison to Higgy on years or dollars. I mean, he was released by a bad team, right? Not all AS appearances are equal.
Campy was hurt most of year and never got on track. Not saying he should be given the starter role but needs a fair shot in ST. Sullivan, a back up while waiting for some DFA during June / July.
If Diaz can’t be signed for 1 / 4 mil (max).
Yeah Diaz will be less than higgy. Campy once he went down looks like he was getting rid of that terrible stance he started the year with. So there is some hope that he can rebound. Though defense wise I’m not sure much will change.
Padres have been getting away with finding some low cost catcher that has performed better than expected recently. Hopefully they will again.
I’d vote Diaz returning now that Higgy is out. Can’t overlook Valenzuela getting a ST invite. He isn’t Salas in ability but he is older and “next in line” for a shot. C definitely isn’t a position that they need to invest in beyond 2025 and that is why Higgy is a Ranger. I’d say there is a better chance that Campy stays healthy and produces at least at league average than it Higgy replicating 2024.
My understanding of the Diaz release was more from a mutual agreement since they weren’t planning to resign him, to allow him a chance to sign with a team with playoff aspirations while saving the rox some cash.
I’d bet that conversation occurred for sure but, doesn’t change the reality thst he wasn’t doing well and was subject to DFA anyway.
—————-
7:11pm: The sides have an agreement, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
6:47pm: The Rangers and free agent catcher Kyle Higashioka have made progress on a deal, reports Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (X link). Financial terms under discussion are not clear.
—————-
That was quick. ^
Too bad. The Pads need a left fielder, a catcher, and a shortstop now. And at least one starter, if not two. Quite the laundry list for a team pinching pennies.
Bogaerts will play SS. Padres need LF, SP, and catcher plus a couple of bench pieces if they don’t feel like Rosario and Ornelas are ready.
Probably true, for better or worse. Even the Padre beat writer noted Bogaerts is probably better at second than at short at this point.
He probably is, but he is not bad at SS. About league average DRS the last 3 seasons. A bit better than average if you go by OAA. He won’t hurt the team at SS.
They just need Bogey at SS one more year, then the kid arrives
They can’t use any of the estimated 13 shortstops they have at other positions to actually play shortstop?
Congrats, Kyle…good luck in Texas!!!
Time to call us Salas
Salas isn’t even good in A ball.
Best prospect at his age in baseball.
mlb.com/news/best-mlb-prospects-by-age-in-2024
Yikes
Spent 10 seasons in minors before 1st callup
Wow
Take care of him Texas, he is a great dude
Surfs up in Texas
He speaks Japanese connect the dots.
Roki Sasaki step right up! There’s only about 11 Japanese people total in the Dallas area so Roki would make a nice dozen. Hope y’all have some decent sushi rolls.
Interesting, CY has been talking about Roki for a couple years…. hmmm…
Barely. He learned it for Tanaka. He could’ve gotten better, but I think it was just pitches, high and low, and inside outside. I was thinking it would’ve made sense to pair him with kikuchi, for the angels. Didn’t think he was getting more than d’arnaud.
Definitely an improvement over last year’s backups
Higgy took advantage of that 2024 season and probably jumped at the first legitimate offer, good on him!
I’d say with an idea what SD had to fall back on. This offer is likely a lot more than SD was offering so, he jumped on it.
I didn’t have much of a science to my predictions, but I had him with the Red Sox. Was that even a remote possibility?
That was a pretty good guess as the Red Sox only have one catcher on their 40 man roster now.
Good guess as any. There’s no studs available so who knows what team wants what. Best science is to research what teams really really value framing and give them a framer. And many teams like having 1 lefty 1 righty bat at catcher.
Bally sports TV really screwed over the Padres; they had signed a lot of top of the class players to future sports TV dollar contracts a few years ago. You wonder if Siedler was still alive would he still be pushing these contracts, knowing that the TV money is not there now or in the future. These contracts keep increasing they have now, it is going to take some really good trading like the Soto deal to get the Padres where they want to be, the days of signing the deals they have in the pass are about done for the Padres. They are a strict budget team now, like 26 out of 30 teams are now.
Padres lost one payment of $8.5 million from Diamond Sports Group. MLB paid them $6.8 million to cover 80% of it. They didn’t lose another dime in broadcast revenue the rest of the year. If they had MLB was on the hook to pay them 80% of any losses and they haven’t had to pay them anything.
The Padres are actually available in more homes today than when DSG was broadcasting them, and they are available here on streaming for $20 a month with no blackouts.
As you have seen this offseason contracts are going up substantially even though many teams have supposedly been impacted by the DSG bankruptcy.
Some of those were just awful contracts no matter what the tv deal was. Owner was dying and wanted to win so did what he could. Would have and would win more going forward if they spent wisely.
Cant blame Bally sports. You have to have a plan and back up plans. Bob Nutting payroll is always prepared for losing a tv deal.
That was quick. I bet it’s a very team friendly deal. Highly frustrated me in NY. Showed so much potential to figure it out and click into being a .250 AVG / 20 HR / 3 WAR type of player, but never quite put it together.
I wish him the best.
I hope it’s a least 2 years/$12M and as much as 2 years/$17M.
Aw Kyle. I’ll always be pulling for the dude. Saw him all the way back on the SI Yanks.
To me it makes no sense. He doesn’t frame pitches well. His batting average is below the Mendoza line. I would rather play a kid from the minors than play an automatic out.
He frames well. Just not great or amazing or elite. If they are smart they didn’t even look at his batting average.
Good thing you aren’t a manager.
@alum
tell me, what minor league catcher do the rangers have that wouldn’t be an automatic out, or that would be better than higashioka?
Perfect value deal for Higgy with a very reasonable option.
Lets go goose!
Solid contract for solid catcher. He can handle a staff and do some hitting.
Loved him in SD during his career year but the guy is what he is. A very late blooming back up they had 1 really good (not really even the entire year) year at age 34. What is the justification for believing he will replicate that for years 35 and 36. I watched almost everyone of his games and he wasn’t awesome. He was solidly above average.
I would have loved him back in SD for 2/8 or maybe 1/6 but not for what Rangers gave. Salas will be expected / hoped to be starter in 26 so that 2nd year wasn’t going to happen in SD is my thought.
No one thinks he will keep repeating 2024 or he would have got more than 7m. I’d rather have 2022 2023 version. Don’t think we will get that again. But could get 2024 again. But even a drop off is fine at 7m as long as it isn’t huge.
You would prefer the 22-23 version when he had an 83 OPS+ and a 0.3 WAR and ranked 79th in framing?
Absolutely. 2021 is his best season but I don’t want to cherry pick the 1 year he had best of both worlds. I don’t look at ops+ war
That tells the whole story then. Ignore the stats and make up a reason to like a player not based on his actual performance.
Pretty much sort of. I don’t make up a reason. The data and video is real. Formulas I use are real. No making anything up. I just don’t want to evaluate on luck. Good or bad. And no luck needed on ops+ all the time. Many times even majority even it’s right. It’s just such a limited evaluation. Better than average rbi most of the time but limited.
Oh my
Like I said at the time, Higgy was a nice little addition by SD at a cheap price. Now he is a year older, and much more expensive. Don’t like it.
But that’s also the nature of the game and how team control and free agency tend to work.
If that’s how players with 6+ years of service time were valuated, (they’re older than they were and only getting older) nobody would ever get free agency deals and nobody would be signed past age 30, etc.
The players pay there’s, earn their FA money and some get $70M a year and others maybe get a token $1M but most get $4M to $20M a season and that’s fair for what they offer.
Their value isn’t just WAR, but a roster spot to fill holes for what is ultimately a form of entertainment.
What’s the problem with Higgy’s deal other than “players aging means they’re that much closer to wear and tear diminishing their value so why bother giving them a dime?”
What’s the problem with Higgy’s deal
====================
Higgy had a 7-year cumulative bWAR of 0.9, and a bWAR/650 of 0.4. He had trended slightly better more recently, but still pretty low-end. But for the SDP, who were looking to cut payroll, his price tag of 2.2M made a lot of sense.
But, while he outperformed his career stats by quite a bit, at age 35 & 36, I’d be very surprised if he didn’t revert to his normal 0.4 bWAR, and maybe less.
Even though 2024 is his best stats year I see him trending down. He can get lucky though and it’s not much of a trend. I hear he is really good at things they don’t measure. And speaks Japanese. If I was avoiding the Japan market I could have waited and let a few more catchers come off the board. But signing one this early this is a fair price.
Lets face it, his numbers were ok. Those look like career year numbers that he wont repeat.
I think he is a very under rated hitter who has had several excellent years
Captain – look up his stats on BR and see if you want to change “several” and “excellent” in that sentence.
Ops+ of 101 (in his career year) with a few 70’s and 80’s for years prior.
I stand by my statements
2024 was his best year and that was just being average.
2024 he put up the best stats in many categories but he was a better hitter in previous years. He could repeat his 2024 stats. Or he could have his worst season ever. One of the hardest players I projected so far. I expect to be able to say the same thing in the spring. Wide range of outcomes.
Other than 2020 he had his best year as a hitter in 2024.
2020 2024 he just had his highest hr percentage seasons. Only other year that is close and it’s not really close is the 2019 juice balls.
He was best at the plate in 2021. Had extremely bad luck. 2022 next best. Bad luck but not as much. Then 2023 and then 2024. Last 2 years are close.
His hr percentage has been anywhere from 3.8 to 8.3 I believe. I am pretty confident. Many would say I am even the most arrogant person on the site. And I have no idea what his hr percentage will be in 2025. 3.8 or 6.8 neither would surprise me. 2021 should have been his highest rate and it was 4.7 2020 should have been his lowest rate and it was 8.3
Ops is worthless to me with this guy. For 2025 he has 6 percent or better he should have a 750 ops. If it’s 4 percent he’s 650. I’d bet on 650 but it’s not a sure thing.
And 2020 was less than 20 games. People aren’t bothering to read stats.
He had some big hits and sick dingers, but yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was a career year given his track record and age. That said, seems like good dude based off interviews and what guys in the clubhouse have said about him. Good for him to take the guaranteed money.
A catcher who can bat in 45 runs in half a season of at bats is an excellent catcher in my book
1 year he did that. 34 and 31 are the next highest years. He had a solid year but not a career. 2.2 WAR at 34. If you don’t like WAR (it’s just a reference for comparison of similar position players), pick any other stat.
He is a decent backup and likely a great clubhouse / staff manager.
Good for the local kid. Edison High is geverakky a football factory buy a few baseball players have come out of it.
Agree with Vegas fan, I’d bet against him matching last year’s numbers. Bit pitcher love pitching to him so he could have value beyond his numbers.
he didn’t debut with the yankees until a week before his 27th birthday. i remember when he was finally promoted to AAA the consensus was it was just a reward for an org player. he just kept grinding and now here we are. very easy guy to root for
$13.5 million for two years is not exorbitant by MLB standards. The mutual option won’t be exercised, of course. At least this leaves a fair amount of room for badly needed pitching.
My bet is that Higashioka doesn’t come close to repeating his 2024 career year. But he can give Heim some rest, and that might help Jonah rebound in 2025.
Kansas City former Padres
we miss you in new york higgy
234 career hits and 116 are for extra bases including 57 homers
I would’ve liked him as a 1B option behind Kirk in Toronto. Nice year he parlayed into a decent pay day.
I had him going to the Rays. I guess I should have reconsidered that pick when the roof blew off the Trop.
Higgy WAS THE BRIDGE catcher to Salas. Oh well. Bring up the kid after the All Star break. May as well force feed him.
Higgy was the backup to Campusano. Then Campy got hit by a swing by Will Smith on May 12th and played like bleep after that. The Padres forced him to the IL in June but by then the damage was done. Higgy got more time as the starter because of Campusano’s struggles after the thumb injury.
To me, the most telling thing is that he had a 3rd year team option for $10 mil. Make me think that if he had a good showing, they might give him an honest shot to be the starting catcher. Why else would you offer a 34 backup a 3rd year option for that much money? Maybe they guarantee it after this session if he has a good year and becomes their starter?
He probably wanted more $ and they said ok here’s a million more in 2027. Got the club option just in case but aren’t betting on exercising it. If you think they will and are willing to bet on it you can probably make $.
I don’t think it would’ve been a big deal to add $500k on to each year of that were the case. They’re paying him 3 or 4 x more what the starting C will make be arb. That’s more to it imo. I’m actually shocked that he didn’t hold out for a starting job. I think a few teams would’ve pursue him for that.
cool beans
Report coming in…I’m hearing that the Texas Rangers front office have all been ******* **** ** *** *** ****, and then been ******* ** ****** **** **** *** ***** *** ****** *** ****** ****** ********* *******. I mean, I myself have not actually been in the front office of the Texas Rangers, but, this is just something I’m hearing from, you know, different sources here and there, mostly from homeless guys with tin foil on their heads…I guess if anyone in the Rangers front office disagrees with these accusations, I mean, ok…but you’re signing Kyle Higashioka, for a, and lemme see if I get this right…a two year contract, with a 2027 mutual option, and a guaranteed $13mm?…For Kyle Higashioka? Really? Yeah, there’s no way those rumors can’t be true…the guys in the tin foil hats are right yo! ******!!!
A real steal for Professor Higgy.
Likey the deal. And if he don’t dinger so much Professor Higgy brings much added value helping Liza Doolittle with her diction
Good for Higgy. Not sure he’s going to be a starting catcher though. Same role he’s always had.
Good for Higgy. He had some nice moments in his lone season with the Friars. Seems like a great dude by all accounts. I’m glad he got paid.
I thought the O’s might be in on Kyle. He could have given Adley some serious rest.
Not the dumbest idea ever. Just up there in the top ten dumbest ideas ever.
I asked a guy from the MLB office in New York once about the ghost runner rule in extra innings. I told him I thought it was completely unfair to the pitcher to start with a man on second and also changed the way a pitcher would have to pitch to batters in that scenario, since there is a clear path to moving a runner and scoring him without giving up a hit. It introduced too many lucky or cheap scoring options that were also unfair to a pitcher. Furthermore, why second base and not start with the runner at first? On first, the defense has the double play to erase the initial unfairness of the situation.
His answer was fairly simple. No one wants to play extra innings in baseball. They just want the game over. It is equally unfair for both teams. The teams don’t really care about lost stadium concessions because the beer is already cut off and most of the fans already bought what they were going to inside the stadium and the rest buy stuff leaving the stadium.
There you have it.
William, I was initially opposed to the rule change as a purist (and DH for NL) but have grown to love both very much to the point of asking, why did it take so long to figure this out?
The reasons you were given are 100% the reasons why it was done. Add in TV issues with interrupting programming as “and another reason” at least to some extent. Travel arrangements for get away games. Yeah they have charter planes but do you want your pilot to get sleepy because he had to wait 2-3 hours for a game to end later than anticipated for takeoff?
It’s good for the game regardless of the reason that we pick.
I don’t think the ghost runner was good for the game. I think the opposite. It is a blatant manipulation to force an outcome quicker. It distorts the basic tenants of the game. You are playing a different game in the 10th then the 9th.
It was a good change for the people INVOLVED in the game. Big difference.
Was really hoping Higgy would re-sign with the Padres. He had some big ABs in the playoffs and his handling of our pitching was excellent all year, not to mention his defense and bat as well. I liked that him and Darvish would bow to each other when paired up. That could have been another plus to sign Sasaki having a half Japanese catcher.
Padres alternative should be to pick up their other catcher Elias Diaz on a short term deal just to fill in till Salas comes up which I think will be in ’26.
Rays? hello? Are they just going to go with two retreads again? I mean, if I was hoping for this guy, it shows low expectations…solid backup, but he could start in TB.
So, the Rangers signed a catcher that speaks Japanese….cant think of a better way to communicate to a soon-to-be posted Japanese pitcher.