Kyle Higashioka

Kyle Harris Higashioka (born April 20, 1990) is an American professional baseball catcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was drafted in the seventh round of the 2008 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut in 2017.

Higashioka began the 2018 season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. With Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2018, he batted .202/.276/.346 in 188 at bats. He was called up to the majors on June 27, following an injury to Sánchez.

After starting his major league career 0-for-22, the longest hitless streak to start a Yankee career of any position player ever, he had his first major league hit, a home run, on July 1 against David Price of the Boston Red Sox. His next two hits, on July 3 and July 4 against the Atlanta Braves, were also home runs, making him the ninth MLB player since 1920 to have three home runs as his first three hits. With the Yankees in 2018, he batted .167/.241/.319 in 72 at bats.

In 2019, Higashioka batted .214 with 3 home runs and 11 RBIs in 18 games with the Yankees.

Higashioka is married to Alyse. His father, Ted, is a third-generation Japanese American. Kyle learned Japanese to connect with his heritage and better communicate with teammate Masahiro Tanaka. Higashioka also studied Spanish in high school and uses that language to communicate with Latin American teammates. Higashioka promised his mother, Diane, that he would earn a college degree and is taking classes in mechanical engineering at Orange Coast College.