The New York Yankees have a new catcher in town, Robinson Chirinos. With the hiring, the Yankees have addressed having only two catchers to start the 2021 season. The retirement caused the void at the end of the last season by catcher Erik Kratz. Kratz was the backup catcher that caught Deivi Garcia’s Major League debut. If either Gary Sanchez or Kyle Higashioka were to be injured, the Yankees would have no backup catcher. To resolve that, they signed veteran catcher Robinson Chirinos.
The 20-year veteran catcher adds a new and interesting wrinkle to the Yankee catching situation: he was a personal catcher for Yankee ace Gerrit Cole when the two were with the Houston Astros.