New York Yankee bullpen catching coach Radley Haddad watched James Paxton throwing to Yankee backup catcher Kyle Higashioka. As he watched Higashioka catching and calling balls and strikes in an intrasquad game, he felt sorry to Kyle. Thinking it’s hard enough to do one of the jobs, nevermind both. Radley got an idea in his head and ran into the clubhouse, talked to manager Aaron Boone, and came running back out onto the field in full umpire gear. Radley Haddad had become the unofficial Yankee umpire for intrasquad games.
The story of Radley Haddad is an interesting one. I can identify with Haddad. I, like Haddad in my high school baseball career, couldn’t hit the ball to save my life. The only reason I was on the team is that I could run like the wind and steal bases. I seldom saw play before the eighth inning from my position on the bench. Haddad had four failed seasons in his minor league hitting career. He only attained a .203 career batting average. But Haddad had something going for himself as well. He was an excellent catcher. Joe Girardi, the manager at the time, recognized this in Haddad and wanted to develop him as a coach.
The truth is, Haddad, and maybe more importantly, the Yankees — knew his playing days were numbered. One day Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman came to him with a catching contract. After talking with his family, he made the difficult decision to stop playing and become a bullpen coach. He signed the contract.
But before that, the struggling hitter was taken to an exhibition game that opened the Braves’ new SunTrust Park. In the ninth inning, Girardi gave Haddad the only at-bat he’d get in a big-league stadium. After two pitches, Haddad grounded back to Josh Johnson. “He (Joe Girardi) blew my doors off,” Haddad said. “It was cool.” It was Haddad’s last pro-at-bat.
Fast forward to 2020; he is a bullpen catcher for the New York Yankees and shares coaching duties. Little did he know at the beginning of summer camp the critical role he would play for the Yankees in this troubled baseball year. Now that real umpires have taken over, Haddad had this to say about the experience:
“Fun in a short stint,†Haddad said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “Fun to get that perspective. But I’ll leave that job to the professionals.â€