Kyle Higashioka was back behind the plate catching Gerrit Cole on Thursday afternoon, his first time back in the starting lineup since being put on the COVID-19 IL after testing positive shortly after the All-Star break.
Higashioka came on for defense on Wednesday night, but Thursday was his first at-bat since July 10, going 0-for-3 in a 14-0 blowout loss to the Rays.
“I felt good, other than getting our ass kicked in that inning,” Higashioka said. “But I felt good.”
Higashioka was one of six Yankees placed on the COVID list around the All-Star break. Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta all tested positive, and all were confirmed to be vaccinated, while Higashioka, Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela testing positive shortly after, and it was confirmed that of those six players, all but one had been vaccinated. Urshela sat out a game earlier this season for what the Yankees announced was side effects to the vaccine, meaning either Urshela or Judge is one of the few Yankees who are unvaccinated (the team is comfortably over the 85 percent vaccination threshold).
Asked if he was vaccinated, Higashioka declined to answer.
“I know you guys have narrowed this down to where whoever says what is going to implicate the other person, so I’m just not going to give you that headline,” Higashioka said.
Indeed, if Judge or Higashioka confirmed they were vaccinated, it would become clear who wasn’t, and Judge took the same approach when he was asked on Wednesday.
“I’m not gonna get into that,” Judge said when asked if he had been vaccinated, which is not required among MLB players. “It’s something I like to keep talking to my doctor about.”
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