New York Yankees: Catcher of the Future or Catcher of the Present?

The New York Yankees made headlines when they decided to sell at this year’s deadline. They quickly became younger, and the focus went to their farm system. One player who was part of the system pre-deadline, Gary Sanchez, has already started to make his mark in New York.

The New York Yankees signed highly sought after catcher Gary Sanchez in 2009 out of the Dominican Republic for a $3 million signing bonus. Since then, he has been a very intriguing prospect. Many expected him to be very successful from the time he was signed, but he did not perform up to expectations until last season. Many doubted how mentally he was committed to baseball until 2015. In 2015 he finally appeared to reach his potential, hitting 25 home runs between three different levels. He also posted a .845 OPS and 145 wRC+ during his time with AAA Scranton in 2015.

After the first few years of his professional career being shadowed by a sense of entitlement that prevented him from reaching his full potential. In 2015 he turned for the better and began to work at his abilities both at the plate and behind it. Before the 2016 season began, Keith Law sang high praises about the catching prospect and even said that he had MVP capability.

His emergence in 2015 combined with stellar play in 2016 led to him being called up earlier this month. Going into the 2016, some even had Sanchez as the Yankees’ top prospect, ahead of other young players recently called up, Aaron Judge and Jorge Mateo. He was perceived to be their catcher of the future. With Brian McCann on the roster along with a very capable backup in Austin Romine, it seemed like there wouldn’t be room for Sanchez for quite awhile.

Instead, Sanchez forced the issue for the Yankees. Not only was he hitting .282/.339/.468 with 10 home runs and a 132 wRC+ at AAA but he was also much improved behind the plate in terms of receiving and blocking. The Yankees decided that he was ready to get a chance to improve his game even more in the big leagues during early August.

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Sanchez has not disappointed. In 45 plate appearances the young catcher is hitting .302/.333/.512 with 5 home runs (including Wednesday’s blast) and a 125 wRC+. Not only has he already hit 5 home runs in a small amount of games, but every single one of his home runs has been over 400 feet, according to statcast. He’s hitting the ball hard and showing off what some scouts graded as 70 raw power.

He has played 7 of his 13 games at catcher with the others all being as a DH. The Yankees, as well as many scouts, are confident in his ability to remain behind the plate. His arm has always been lauded, and his abilities to receive, handle pitchers, and block the plate have improved tremendously during his time in the minor leagues.

Does this mean that Sanchez is ready to take over the job as the New York Yankees starting catcher through the rest of the 2016 season? With veteran Brian McCann in the current role, it certainly won’t be easy for the rookie to take over. However, Sanchez has shown that his youth is quite an asset down the stretch. With Alex Rodriguez gone from the organization there is now more room for McCann to get more starts at DH than behind the plate. These factors will all contribute to Sanchez getting more starts.

If the Yankees are smart about this situation, they will find the right balance. Allowing Sanchez to get a ton of at bats against Major League pitching this season while also helping him get better behind the plate would be ideal. The best case scenario for the Yankees would include a smooth transition for McCann and Sanchez. Sanchez has the capability to take over the starting catcher role, while McCann still profiles well as a DH everyday.

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Gary Sanchez has arrived in a big way slightly before the Yankees expected him too. His foray into Major League Baseball has been incredibly successful thus far. It seems as though he will only go up from here.

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