Catcher Travis d’Arnaud bagging a two-year deal for $16 million from the Braves will help Austin Romine no matter where he lands.

With big-game pitchers Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg heading this winter’s free-agent class, backup catchers aren’t hip at this time of the year, and the Yankees will certainly be involved with Cole, Strasburg and Zack Wheeler.

Yet, as a first-time free agent, the 31-year-old Romine has been more important to the Yankees than the garden-variety backup because of Gary Sanchez’s injury history the past two seasons.

Still, there is a chance the Yankees allow Romine to split and turn to Kyle Higashioka to back up Sanchez, who has been on the injured list four times in the past two seasons with lower-body ailments that have limited him to a combined 195 games in which he hit .211 with a .776 OPS, 52 homers and 130 RBIs. He did improve defensively in 2019 after a nightmarish 2018 season.

The big question surrounding Romine is whether he can be a No. 1 catcher after never having done that in the majors. It takes only one team to believe Romine can be a front-line catcher and offer him a multi-year deal. And considering he is a better defensive catcher than d’Arnaud and has improved significantly at the plate in the past two years, Romine should do better than the $1.8 million he earned this past season. In the past two years Romine has played in 149 games, hit 18 homers, drove in 77 runs, batted .262 and posted a .730 OPS.

A talent evaluator believes the Yankees should find a way to hold onto Romine, whose toughness, pitch calling, ball blocking and clubhouse presence would be missed.

The Pirates are looking for catching and had success with Francisco Cervelli after he left the Yankees.

“I like him. I thought [the Yankees] were a better team when he caught,’’ the scout said of Romine. “His hits aren’t as loud as [Sanchez], but he has better at-bats.’’

Because Romine has proved he can absorb more work than the normal backup while seeing extended playing time due to Sanchez’s injuries, the Yankees would be gambling that Higashioka, who turns 30 in April, could handle that role if Sanchez ends up on the IL as often as he has the past two years.

In parts of three big-league seasons, Higashioka has hit .164 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 56 games and has a reputation as a solid framer of pitches. This past year at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Higashioka hit .278 with 20 homers and 56 RBIs and posted a .929 OPS in 70 games.