Jose Trevino, a 2022 All-Star, has not replicated his offensive success a season later for the Yankees.
As it turns out, the catcher was fighting more than opposing pitchers when he swung the bat.
The Yankees put Trevino on the injured list Friday, retroactive to Tuesday, and his season is likely finished after he could no longer try to play through ligament pain in his right wrist.
Trevino announced he will need surgery for what is technically a tear of the triangular fibrocartilage complex.
Trevino had quietly been playing through the discomfort since spring training and knew at some point he would have to make a decision on surgery.
He held out as long as he could, but with the pain deepening and his results worsening, he faced an excruciating reality.
“I couldn’t really take it any more,” Trevino said Friday, before the Yankees opened a series against the Royals with a 5-4 victory in The Bronx. “Not really bringing anything to the table. I feel like it’s the best move.”
Presuming Trevino’s season is over (“I don’t think I can” make it back this year, he said) he will finish with a .570 OPS in 55 games.
He had begun to lose playing time to Kyle Higashioka, who had started more games than Trevino this month, and his batting average had sunk to .210 on a team that has badly needed offensive punch.
The Yankees called up Ben Rortvedt, who was hitting .286 with a .900 OPS for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, to take Trevino’s spot and share the catching duties.
Trevino said he had received shots along the way, but no remedy lasted.
Twice he said he did not want to use his wrist as an excuse for his poor hitting results.
There is a difference, though, between excuses and explanations.
“No question” Trevino’s wrist negatively affected his swing, manager Aaron Boone said. “For the most part, he was still competitive and able to kind of get through it, but it definitely had an impact on his offense.”
For all the downturns that came to define Trevino’s season, the reigning Gold Glover still is ranked as the third-best pitch framer in baseball this season, according to Statcast’s metrics.
The Yankees acquired him from the Rangers shortly before the 2022 season began because of his strong defensive reputation.
Trevino could not repeat the many big hits and the .671 OPS he posted last year, but he contributed defensively and had become a favorite of Gerrit Cole.
Of the Yankees ace’s 20 starts, Trevino has caught 18.
“I plan on sticking around, whatever they need me for,” said Trevino, who had missed a few weeks of spring training action with what the team then called a wrist sprain.
Without Trevino, Higashioka likely will receive the majority of starts.
The longtime Yankees backup is not much of an offensive threat, but he is having his best month of the season.
He entered Friday hitting .321 with a pair of home runs in 12 July games.
The 25-year-old Rortvedt has encountered repeated setbacks with the Yankees since he was acquired in a trade before last season, and his 2022 was mostly spent on the injured list with an oblique injury and a partially torn meniscus.
He arrived early at spring training this year only to suffer an aneurysm of his posterior artery, near his left shoulder, which knocked him out until late April.
Rortvedt finally made his Yankees debut in May, but appeared in just five games before he was optioned.
He has swung well in the minors.
“Just chipping away with the guys every day trying to get better has been my mindset,” said Rortvedt, who figures to get his first real Yankees opportunity, unless a deadline trade is pulled off.
The Yankees will miss Trevino, even if his bat had become one of many problems in the lineup.
“It’s very frustrating,” Trevino said. “I want to be out there. I love to play. I love to catch. I love to be out there. I love to wear the pinstripes. There’s nothing more that I want to do than go out there and play.
“But at this point, I’m not helping anybody. I’m not even helping myself and I’m not helping the team.”
