NEW YORK – The Yankees shuffled their catching depth chart after Friday night’s 5-3 loss to the Red Sox, preparing to promote Ali Sánchez to the Majors while optioning J.C. Escarra to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The club announced Sánchez's promotion on Saturday.
Sánchez, 29, gives the Yankees a right-handed-hitting catcher to partner alongside the left-handed Austin Wells.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said earlier on Friday that he is not considering returning Ben Rice to a catching role at this time, suggesting it was something the team would “kick around down the line.”
Wells and Escarra have struggled offensively. Entering Friday, the Yankees ranked 28th in the Majors in catchers’ OPS (.534), 29th in batting average (.173), 24th in on-base percentage (.272) and 28th in slugging percentage (.262).
Sánchez has batted .183 (22-for-120) across parts of four Major League seasons, including brief stints with the Blue Jays and Red Sox last year. At Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he was batting .227 (29-for-128) with six home runs and 11 RBIs in 40 games.
Earlier on Friday, Cashman was asked whether he was open to a hypothetical scenario in which Rice would return to catching to keep first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup.
Stanton is likely two to three weeks away from returning to the Majors.
“Obviously, Rice has been fantastic,” Cashman said. “He’s certainly capable of going behind the plate. But I guess it’s something we’ll kick around down the line. It’s not something that’s on the radar right now. So we like it the way it is currently [with Rice at first base]. Once the party gets bigger and you have more players to play with, some of these conversations [are ones] we’ll have.”