1987 Profile: Henry Cotto

"Cotto won a spot on the 1986 Opening Day roster by hitting .348 in spring training. He was used mainly as a late inning defensive replacement in both left and center fields. He was 7-for-42 (.167) with a double and three RBIs in 18 games before being optioned to Columbus on May 18.
He played 97 games with Columbus, hitting .248 (89-for-359) with seven homers, 48 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. He was named International League Player of the Week for June 2-8.
Cotto was recalled by the Yankees on September 1 and played in 17 games, including eight starts in center field. He batted .263 (10-for-38) following his recall. He went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the regular season finale on October 5 at Boston, including a two-run home run in the second inning off Jeff Sellers, his second major league homer (Henry's previous homer came in the '85 season finale).
He opened 1985 with the Yankees due to Rickey Henderson's injured ankle and then was used as a late inning defensive replacement. Henry went 8-for-26 (.286) in 21 games before being optioned to Columbus on July 5. He played 75 games with Columbus, hitting .257 and making just two errors. Recalled to New York on September 3, he played in 13 games, starting his last six in left field. Henry went 2-for-4 with four RBIs in the final game of the season on October 6 at Toronto, hitting his first major league home run off Bill Caudill.
In 1981 Henry led the Midwest League in assists and also hit .292 for Quad Cities. In 1982, he led the Texas League in stolen bases with 52, and in the outfield led the league in total chances (333) and putouts (310), and in 1983 led the American Association in caught stealing with 17.
Henry appeared in 88 games in the Chicago Cubs' outfield in 1984, and his .984 fielding average was the team high for Cubs who appeared in more than 50 games. He had nine stolen bases on 12 attempts. Inserted into three games of the NLCS as a late inning defensive replacement, two in left field and one in right, he went 1-for-1 in his only official at-bat in Game 1. He appeared in Game 4 as a pinch runner and scored a run. Henry has a perfect 1.000 percentage in both batting (1-for-1) and fielding (2-for-2) in postseason play. He was traded to the Yankees in December of '84."

-1987 New York Yankees Information Guide