Jose Trevino remembers suiting up, squatting down, and catching for the primary time at Oral Roberts College.
He had simply come off a first-team freshman All-American marketing campaign as a 3rd baseman in 2013 when the Golden Eagles determined he would transfer behind the plate. Trevino had solely caught sparingly in highschool, however he did as he was instructed and set as much as obtain pitches from this system’s pitching machine — a check of types. He swears it instantly launched 100-mile-per-hour fastballs at his untested mitt. All of the whereas, members of the Oral Roberts teaching workers repeated a mantra.
“All they stored saying was: ‘Catch it. Make it look straightforward!’” Trevino recalled, laughing. “I’m considering, ‘I don’t know if I’m constructed for that.’ These days have been powerful.”
That, consider it or not, is the unlikely origin story of an unlikely All-Star catcher. Trevino is one in all six Yankees who have been chosen to the Midsummer Traditional, which might be performed on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. Trevino is taken into account an elite defensive backstop, and the numbers again that up: No catcher has been a greater pitch-framer this season, per Baseball Savant’s catcher framing runs and strike price statistics.
Trevino didn’t envision such a future behind the plate when he first tried the place, however his coaches knew higher. Ryan Folmar, a longtime Oral Roberts assistant and the college’s head coach since 2013, first imagined Trevino catching when the 2 met at a camp for highschool recruits.
“Immediately, I believed: ‘Man, this man’s a catcher. This man, I can see transitioning to being behind the plate sooner or later,’” Folmar stated. “We knew that transition was going to be straightforward as a result of he was such an excellent baseball participant.
“He had all of the intangible stuff, management qualities and toughness, all the things that should include that place. After which the bodily half as nicely. So all of it simply sort of lined up, all of it simply sort of match.”
Trevino labored his approach into being the Golden Eagles’ beginning catcher that 12 months, however one other swap awaited. He spent his junior marketing campaign at shortstop, filling a group want, and have become a sixth-round decide of the Texas Rangers in 2014. Texas drafted him as an infielder, however Trevino quickly realized that his future was catching.
When he arrived at Class-A Spokane in 2014, he unexpectedly discovered catching gear at his locker. A coach urged that Trevino ask his agent to in a single day a couple of new gloves, and he quickly discovered himself working behind the plate.
Again then, it was a a lot tougher job for him.
“I used to be actually unhealthy at it,” Trevino stated. “I struggled with it. And I sat down, on my own, and I acquired a journal out and wrote. Like if I need to be an enormous leaguer, this is what I’ve to do to get higher. I simply wrote down all the things I wanted to do to get higher.”
These journal entries included nearly each facet of catching, together with blocking, receiving, throwing, pitch-calling; “Every part,” Trevino stated. It helped him grow to be a full-time catcher in 2015, and he has been behind the plate ever since.
For all of the early woes, protection wasn’t Trevino’s situation with the Rangers. A Texas native, he performed in 156 main league video games from 2018 to 2021 — together with a career-high 89 final 12 months — and quietly established himself as a metrics darling even when he didn’t present numerous worth together with his bat.
Trevino’s protection made him enticing to the Yankees when Ben Rortvedt, a younger catcher the Yankees had acquired to be group’s backup this season, acquired damage in spring coaching. On April 2, the Yankees swung a deal for Trevino, sending minor leaguer Robby Ahlstrom and reliever Albert Abreu to Texas.
For Trevino, who grew up rooting for the Yankees, it was a dream come true.
“I used to be excited for a change of surroundings,” he stated. “The Rangers have been nice for me, and nice to me. They developed me, they helped me with all the things. I don’t have something unhealthy to say in regards to the Rangers. I don’t suppose I ever will. I’m grateful for my time there, however I’m excited to be right here.”
Pressured to be taught a brand new workers on the fly, Trevino has completed nothing however impress together with his receiving expertise. His framing usually tips umpires, stealing strikes for pitchers who generally get fooled as nicely.
“He truly fakes us out a pair occasions the place, as a result of he’s so good again there, I believe that it’s a strike,” stated Michael King, a breakout star reliever for the Yankees. “However then I am going again and have a look at it and it was two balls off. However as a result of he’s so good at making it seem like a strike, it fakes me out. Every part’s proper there.”
Whereas the Yankees knew what they have been getting from Trevino’s glove, his bat was an open query. Over elements of 4 seasons with the Rangers, he hit .245 with a .634 on-base plus slugging share, 9 homers and 55 runs batted in. He had solely 0.5 wins above alternative, per Baseball Reference, and his offense wiped away practically all the worth of his protection.
With the Yankees, nonetheless, Trevino has been a extra full participant. He’s hitting .251 on the All-Star break with a .714 O.P.S., seven homers and 27 R.B.I. These numbers should not otherworldly, however, when mixed together with his protection, they add as much as 2.1 WAR and have allowed Trevino to displace Kyle Higashioka because the Yankees’ starter.
“He’s been an All-Star, and never simply because he’s one in all, if not the, finest defensive catchers within the league,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone stated. “He’s swinging the bat rather well.”
It was Boone who knowledgeable Trevino of his first All-Star nod. The Yankees shared the dialog on social media on July 10. This time, it was Trevino who stored repeating himself.
Twice he requested his supervisor if he was being critical.
The emotional second was one in all many for Trevino since he joined the Yankees.
Earlier than he died in 2013, his father, Joe, dreamed of his son someday donning pinstripes. The 2 would follow collectively, and Joe would think about Trevino stepping as much as the plate for large moments at Yankee Stadium.
On Could 24, Trevino hit a walk-off single on what would have been Joe’s 69th birthday. Trevino added a second walk-off on June 10, his personal son’s birthday.
Now Trevino is heading to Los Angeles, alongside the Yankees stars Aaron Decide, Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole, in addition to fellow surprises Nestor Cortes and Clay Holmes.
Trevino is thrilled to be a part of the expertise. “The child in me is certainly excited,” he stated. However Trevino additionally has his sights set on catching even larger video games for the Yankees down the highway.
“I imply, the All-Star Recreation is nice,” he stated. “Like, don’t get me incorrect. I’m grateful for being an All-Star, however that’s not what I’m right here for. I need to win a championship. I need to win.”