New York Yankees: With Gary Sanchez hurt, it’s Austin Romine’s time to shine

The New York Yankees may be without Gary Sanchez for quite a while. Austin Romine has gotten off to a great start, can he keep it up in a full-time role?

If you listen to sports talk radio in New York like I do, or if you are on Twitter at all about anything New York Yankees, you would think Gary Sanchez is the worst catcher in the major leagues and that Austin Romine is the second coming of Yogi Berra.

Well, we are going to find out if those fans are right or not.

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The 25-year-old Sanchez is hitting just .190, but with 14 homers and 41 RBI. He’s had some passed balls and inopportune times and hasn’t caught Sonny Gray for most of the year.

That has fallen to Romine, who’s gotten off to a good start in his role as a backup. Romine is hitting .305 with an .894 OPS thus far this year, although, over his last 23 at-bats, he’s hitting just .130.

The way Sanchez hurt his groin/hip area, made it seem entirely possible he could be injured for a while.

This means Romine could be behind the dish for quite a while for the New York Yankees.

It means that Giancarlo Stanton‘s hot streak may be more important than ever and that the club may expect more offensively from rookies Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres. Greg Bird has yet to get it going after coming off the DL and will need to help carry the load also.

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This is a big chance for Romine to show that he could be an everyday catcher at some point for someone. He’s a free agent in two years, and there isn’t a ton of catching depth in the majors.

Some New York Yankees fans are going to get what they want, Romine behind the plate everyday. The question is will Romine run with this, or will those Yankees fans realize how good Sanchez is?