Yankees activate Gary Sanchez, option Kyle Higashioka to Triple-A

The Yankees have been without their catcher for nearly a month, but they officially activated Gary Sanchez from the disabled list tonight. He is expected to be back behind the plate tomorrow night as the team kicks off the final three games of the Subway Series. As the corresponding move, Kyle Higashioka has been optioned to Triple-A.

It’s no secret that Sanchez has struggled this season, slashing just .190/.291/.433 over 231 at-bats. Hopefully the rest did him some good. During his rehab assignment, he went 2-for-12 with six strikeouts. Both of those hits were home runs. That seems to be the trend this season, as he has 14 homers under his belt but hasn’t been able to do much else. While it will be nice to have his arm back behind the plate, the offense really needs him to heat up.

Obviously there is no need to keep Higashioka around with Sanchez healthy. He had some fun moments as the backup backup, though. For awhile, it looked like he might break a Yankees record for most at-bats without a hit. Then his first three hits were all long balls. He cooled down considerably after that, collecting just two hits over his last 15 at-bats.