Kyle Higashioka heard you.
He listened to the ovations when he walked to the plate. He enjoyed the “little interactions,” he said, when signing autographs.
He chuckled remembering the fans behind the bullpen whose yells would help pump him up before games.
“I don’t know if any non-everyday player feels that kind of love and support from a fan base in many other areas,” Higashioka said over the phone Wednesday when asked about his message to Yankees fans. “I guess just a big, ‘Thank you.’”
There were not many non-everyday players like Higashioka, who spent 16 years as a member of the Yankees organization before being sent to the Padres in this month’s Juan Soto blockbuster.
The longtime backup acknowledged the move was “kind of shocking,” but so was his long rise.
The California high school catcher was selected in the seventh round in 2008 in the same draft that brought the now-retired Buster Posey to the Giants and in which the Mets drafted Ike Davis, who last played in the majors in 2016.
Higashioka’s climb repeatedly was sidetracked.
There was a Tommy John surgery in 2013 and a broken thumb in 2014, a two-year span in which he played in 24 total games.
He was pushed back to High-A Tampa in 2015 when Brian McCann was the major league catcher, Austin Romine opened at Triple-A and Gary Sánchez caught at Double-A.
Leapfrogged by several competing catchers, he spent the majority of his year-25 season in the lowly Florida State League, the only place he could receive consistent playing time.
He grew as a pitch-framer, and a swing he revamped to get the ball in the air more began to show results.
He moved up to Double-A the following season and played one Triple-A game in 2017 before Sánchez suffered an injury that opened the major league door for Higashioka, who withstood nine minor league years before finally cracking into the majors.
“I went through a few tough years in the minors to start my career,” said Higashioka, who spoke from his Oregon home. “There were definitely plenty of points where I doubted whether or not I was ever going to make it to the big leagues. Just the fact that I got there and then experienced so many cool moments — personally and as a team.”
Higashioka and his excellent defensive game began to take playing time from a sinking Sánchez in 2020, when Higgy registered his first three-homer game at any level and rose to start three games during that year’s playoff run.
He caught Corey Kluber’s no-hitter in 2021.
He one-upped himself this past season when he was on the receiving end of Domingo German’s perfect game in Oakland.
“I got really lucky with a lot of cool things happening to me,” said the 33-year-old, who added he would be the rare former Yankee who does not grow a beard, “I have stories for a lifetime already.
“Even if my career were to end just with the Yankees, that would have been a fantastic career based on how I started. I’m just grateful that it gets to continue.”
His career continues in San Diego, near his family in Southern California and his “very happy” mother, who will have a far shorter commute to see him play.
He’s heard good things about playing in San Diego, and you can’t beat the weather.
Higashioka was hitting with Anthony Volpe in Arizona when his agent called and alerted him that he would be part of the haul exchanged for Soto.
He called his wife and went back to training with suddenly his former teammate.
There are no hard feelings regarding the only team he had known.
“That’s the organization that made me the player that I am,” Higashioka said.
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