Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has agreed to terms with catcher Kyle Higashioka (pronounced ‘he-GAH-she-OH-kah’) on a two-year contract, covering the 2025 and 2026 seasons with a mutual option for 2027.

Higashioka, 34, batted .220/.263/.476/.739 (54-246) and set career highs in home runs (17), RBI (45), and runs (29) over 84 games for San Diego in 2024, his first season with the Padres. The backstop nabbed 13 of 65 attempted base stealers for a 20.0% caught stealing percentage, the 4th-best figure among National League catchers with at least 75 starts behind the plate.

Prior to his one-year stint in San Diego, Higashioka spent his first 16 professional campaigns (beg. 2008) in the New York-AL organization. The right-handed batter and thrower made his MLB debut for the Yankees in 2017 following 10 seasons in the minor leagues, which matched the club record for longest gap from draft to debut by a player drafted by and debuting with the team. He was dealt by New York-AL to San Diego on December 7, 2023 as part of the trade that sent Juan Soto to the Yankees. At the time of the trade, Higashioka stood as the longest-tenured player in the New York-AL organization.

Since 2020, Higashioka has made five consecutive Opening Day rosters and appeared in the postseason four times (2020-22 w/ NYY, 2024 w/ SD), collecting four home runs in his postseason career. He served as the catcher for the 24th perfect game in MLB history, authored by the Yankees’ Domingo Germán on June 28, 2023 at Oakland, as well as Corey Kluber’s no-hitter on May 19, 2021 vs. Texas at Globe Life Field, becoming the 13th backstop in MLB history to catch both a perfect game and no-hitter.

A native of Huntington Beach, Calif., Higashioka owns a career .212/.255/.412/.668 (234-1104) slash line with 57 home runs in 398 career games spanning eight Major League seasons with New York-AL (2017-23) and San Diego (2024). His 28.4 catcher framing runs since 2019 are the 7th most in MLB over that span, according to Fangraphs. He was originally selected by the Yankees in the 7th round of the 2008 MLB Draft from Edison H.S. (Calif.).

With the addition of Higashioka, the Rangers now have 39 players on the club’s Major League roster.