For every action, there is a reaction. After losing Tanner Swanson, who essentially left for a promotion to be the bench coach of the Seattle Mariners—signing up for the staff around first-year manager Jason Kanzler—the Yankees are opting for an in-house approach in promoting Aaron Gershenfeld, according to Robert Murray of FanSided.
Officially, it has not been announced that Gershenfeld will be the new Director of Catching for the Yankees—the position Swanson occupied over the last three seasons.
However, the fact that he had already been working with catchers for the Yankees for the past several years makes this a healthy assumption; he was previously the Run Prevention and Catching Coordinator. Whatever the specifics, we know much of the work that used to be done by Swanson will now fall under Gershenfeld’s umbrella. Gary Phillips of the Daily News specified that his expected titles are Director of Catching, Major League Field Coordinator, and Catching Coach.
While this turnover in the coaching staff is not necessarily the best news, one could easily choose to be flattered by it. Gershenfeld will have big shoes to fill, replacing Swanson, who thrived working without necessarily the most naturally gifted of catching depth charts throughout his Yankee tenure. The now-Seattle coach extracted all you could defensively out of the likes of Austin Wells, José Trevino, and others. Never mind the impact of strong defense at that position on the Yankees’ pitching staff; strictly from a value standpoint, they needed to be above-average to make up for the lack of production at the plate.
The good thing is that whatever the Yankees’ choice, Gershenfeld is firmly aware of how the team operates and the inner workings and requirements of his new position. Expectations will be high to meet the top-of-the-line status quo, but the 34-year-old should be ready.
