The New York Yankees are very much in the thick of a pennant race in 2017. The youth movement in the Bronx, led by Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, has fans talking about another dynasty in the making.
A pennant race means a brighter spotlight for the young Yankees. For every step forward there’s more attention on the missed steps along the way.
Judge was destroying the baseball throughout the first half of the season, but he’s currently going through a prolonged slump. He’s still hitting around .300, not bad at all. However, Judge has also struck out in 23 straight games, the longest streak in the majors this season.
Sanchez and Aaron Judge represent the future for the Yankees. (Image: AP Photo | Kathy Willens)
While Judge is working hard at getting his bat jump-started again, Sanchez is having his own issues – with the glove.
Sanchez opened eyes and turned heads last year, he hit 20 home runs for the Yankees in the final two months of the 2016 season. But it was his work behind the plate at catcher which caught my attention.
Opposing teams couldn’t run against Sanchez, he was throwing everyone out almost with ease. The pitching staff also appeared to respond positively to his ability for calling a game. It looked like the Yankees found their catcher for the next decade, the total package.
This year, despite slowed down by an early-season biceps injury, he is still swinging a powerful bat. He’s not on the pace he was on in 2016. But 17 home runs, 52 RBI, and a .264 batting average isn’t too bad either.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi (No. 28) , Gary Sanchez. (Image: Bill Kostroun)
What Yankees fans are concerned about is the fact Sanchez has regressed on defense.
Yes, he’s still throwing runners out at an impressive rate.
George King III of the New York Post points out Sanchez has thrown out 35 percent of baserunners attempting to steal on him.
The issue is the alarming number of passed balls he’s allowing. Sanchez leads the Majors in passed balls with 12, that’s beyond alarming and justifies the reason for concern.
According to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi, it’s not that Sanchez is out of shape. Instead they have a different reason to point to for Sanchez’s defensive issues.
“Defensively, he is not like he was last year,” Cashman said. “He added eight to 12 pounds of muscle and his body fat stayed the same, but I don’t think he has the flexibility. It was good intentions and bad results.”
Expecting Sanchez to all of a sudden drop pounds in the middle of a pennant race is a bit of a stretch. But there is still time for adjustments which can be made.
“He needs to improve, bottom line he needs to improve,” said Girardi. “He is late getting down to block pitches in the dirt. That’s what I see sometimes. It is something that we are working on and continue to work on.”
If anyone’s able to put Sanchez back on the right track defensively, it should be Girardi. Besides being the Yankees manager, Girardi won three World Series titles in 15 years in the majors as a catcher. He knows what he’s talking about.
Despite struggles behind the plate in 2017, Gary Sanchez is still swinging a strong bat. (Image: Ray Stubblebine)
Sanchez …The Perspective
Sanchez is going to be alright, long as he’s willing to listen to the right people. Part of the maturation process for young talents, like Judge and Sanchez, is getting out of their own head and accepting constructive criticism.
Judge, last year, was a walking strikeout machine. He put the work in over the offseason and the results followed. There’s enough proof there to believe he’ll snap out of his summer slump.
Now we’ll see if Sanchez is willing to put in the work and do the same with his glove. The Yankees are playing for a spot in the playoffs this year, they’ll need the 24-year old fully dialed-in for the stretch run.
