"I don't feel good at all about last season, I didn't do anything to contribute,' lamented Joel Skinner. It was a harsh reality for the young man, considered the catcher of the future after coming to the Yankees in a July 1986 trade with the White Sox.
Skinner is a highly regarded defensive catcher, who has a strong arm and calls a good game. His shortcoming has proven to be his bat. He was never expected to tear the cover off the ball, but his slow start in 1987 fell below acceptable standards. After showing promise at the plate after coming over from Chicago, Skinner became the Yankees' starting catcher last year and even hit his first grand slam in April, only to be outrighted to Columbus in June with a .137 batting average.
'I haven't taken advantage of the opportunities I have had,' Skinner says. 'You have to play well to be in the lineup.' In 1988 he'll get another shot."
-The New York Yankees Official 1988 Yearbook
"In 1987 Joel hit the first grand slam of his career, off Steve Carlton on April 14 against Cleveland, and his four RBIs in that game matched his single game career high. He also had the game-winning RBI in that contest, one of his two game-winning RBIs of the season (the other came on August 15 against Cleveland). Joel hit two other home runs in 1987: a solo homer off Scott Bankhead on May 16 at Seattle and another solo shot off Urbano Lugo on May 24 at California.
Joel got off to a slow start in '87. After his first 15 games, on April 25, he was hitting only .098 (4-for-41) with four RBIs, all coming on the grand slam off Carlton. He had a four-game hitting streak from May 1-4, hitting .333 (5-for-15) with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. He was optioned to the Clippers on June 10; he was hitting .137 (14-for-102) with three home runs and 10 RBIs to go along with 33 strikeouts in 39 games with New York. In 49 games with the Clippers he batted .242 six home runs and 27 RBIs.
The Yankees purchased his contract on August 10 and he hit .135 (5-for-37) with four RBIs and 13 strikeouts in 22 games from that point to the end of the season. Joel finished the year with an overall batting average of .137 with the Yankees (19-for-139) in 64 games, with three homers, 14 RBIs and 46 strikeouts, yet batted .208 with runners in scoring position. He was ejected from one game, April 13 against Cleveland (the home opener at Yankee Stadium) after bumping first base umpire John Hirschbeck in the second inning. He was 0-for-1 in his only pinch-hitting appearance on August 28 against Seattle.
Defensively, Joel committed four errors in 254 total chances for a .984 fielding percentage and had just one passed ball. He caught 12 of 46 runners attempting to steal (26%) and on April 20 against Detroit was 2-for-2 throwing out runners attempting to steal (Pat Sheridan and Darrell Evans).
Joel began 1986 with the Chicago White Sox, but was acquired by the Yankees along with Ron Kittle and Wayne Tolleson on July 29 in exchange for Ron Hassey, Carlos Martinez and a player to be named later (Bill Lindsey was traded to Chicago in December of 1986 to complete the deal). At the time of the trade he was hitting .201 (30-for-149) in 60 games with the Sox with four homers and 20 RBIs (including a game winning RBI). He hit two of those four home runs off the Yankees: a three-run homer on July 18 at Yankee Stadium off Joe Niekro, and a two-run homer on July 19 at Yankee Stadium off Scott Nielsen. He also had two other hits in that July 19 contest, his first career three-hit game.
His one stolen base in '86 came on April 16 against Detroit. Joel set a new career high with a five-game hitting game streak from May 25 through June 5. In four games from July 13-19 he was 5-for-13 (.385) with three home runs and eight RBIs.
After joining the Yankees, he played in 54 of the club's remaining 61 games (including 52 as the starting catcher) and batted .259 (42-for-166) with a homer and 17 RBIs. His one home run as a Yankee came on August 15 at Kansas City, a solo shot off Scott Bankhead.
Joel started slowly with the Yankees, hitting .133 (6-for-45) through August 19 after 15 games with the club, then matched his career high with a five-game hitting streak from August 20-25, going 8-for-16 (.500) in those games to lift his average to .230. After going 0-for-13 in his next five games to drop his average to .189 on September 1, he hit .315 (29-for-92) with 13 RBIs in his last 29 games, including another five-game hitting streak from September 24-29 to raise his average to his final .259 mark as a Yankee.
He set a personal single game career high on September 9 at California with four RBIs. Joel had 10 multiple-hit games with the Yankees, including three games of three hits (September 16 against Baltimore, September 28 against Detroit and September 29 against Toronto), matching his single game career high. Overall for the season he batted .232 with five homers and 37 RBIs.
With the White Sox he was successful throwing out 10 of 34 runners (29.4%) attempting to steal. With the Yankees he caught 11 of 31 attempted steals (35.5%), giving him a total of 21 runners caught stealing in 65 attempts (32.2% for the year). Joel was 2-for-2 (Ken Gerhart, John Shelby) throwing out runners attempting to steal on September 17 against Baltimore.
He had a combined fielding average of .984 with four passed balls; in his 54 games with the Yankees it was .980 with three passed balls. Joel caught a combined total of 114 games, the sixth highest total in the American League.
The son of former major league manager and player Bob Skinner, Joel was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 36th round of the free agent draft on June 5, 1979. In 1980 Joel hit seven home runs with 27 RBIs in 100 games with 'A' Shelby, and in 1981 was the All-Star catcher with Greenwood in the South Atlantic League.
He originally joined the White Sox organization in February 1982 when Chicago selected him over some 2,000 other professional players in the first compensation draft. The draft choice came from the Phillies' signing of Chicago free agent reliever Ed Farmer in January 1982. Farmer was a type 'A' free agent, giving Chicago the chance to pick the promising catcher from the Pittsburgh organization. That year Joel was chosen the top major league prospect in the Eastern League while playing for 'AA' Glens Falls and was also the Eastern League All-Star catcher.
His contract was purchased by the White Sox on June 12, 1983 when Carlton Fisk suffered a sore shoulder. Joel made his major league debut the same day and went 2-for-4 at the plate. He was returned to 'AAA' Denver on June 15 and [recalled by] Chicago in mid-September, appearing in six games altogether with the Sox. He was voted the top major league prospect in the American Association and hit .260 for the A.A. champion Bears.
Joel appeared in 43 games for the Sox in 1984 during three separate stints with the parent club, traveling between Chicago and Denver. His Chicago tours were May 23-June 10, June 13-July 19 and September 5 through the end of the season. Shortly after his final return to Denver, Joel suffered a fractured wrist diving back to first base that healed in time for him to play with the Sox in September.
He hit .284 at Denver in '84, his best batting average to date as a professional, along with 10 home runs. Joel was named to the American Association All-Star team, his third all-star selection in a row, and was also voted the A.A.'s best defensive catcher and the catcher with the best throwing arm.
Joel made a pair of stops in Chicago in 1985 but spent most of the season at 'AAA' Buffalo of the American Association. First recalled on July 27 when Sox backup catcher Marc Hill was hurting with a bad hip, Joel appeared in three games in that stay and hit safely in all three (4-for-8, .500, two doubles, two RBIs). Returned to Buffalo on August 4, he was recalled again on September 1 and finished the season with the Sox. He hit safely in eight of the 14 games in which he recorded an official at-bat and finished with a .341 average with a homer and five RBIs. The homer, the first of his major league career, came on September 18 in Chicago off California's Don Sutton. Joel batted .240 in 115 games at Buffalo, with 12 homers matching his professional single season career high.
Joel played baseball at Mission Bay (CA) High School. His favorite team growing up was the Cincinnati Reds and his favorite player was Johnny Bench. Joel's favorite stadium is Anaheim Stadium his favorite spectator sport is hockey and golf is his hobby. His favorite entertainers are John Wayne, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie."
-1988 New York Yankees Information Guide
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