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New York Yankees: The 2010s All-Decade Team

By Manny Gómez

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 22: Didi Gregorius #18 and Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees celebrate the 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on May 22, 2017 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 22: Didi Gregorius #18 and Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees celebrate the 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on May 22, 2017 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

All-Decade Yankees Infield

Gary Sanchez, Catcher

  • 2x All-Star
  • 2017 Silver Slugger

When Gary Sanchez emerged as the everyday New York Yankees catcher in 2016, he took the entire baseball world by storm. Similarly to 2019 AL Rookie of the Year Award winner Yordan Alvarez, in just a fraction of the season (53 games) Gary featured a 1.032 OPS, drilling 20 HR and 42 RBI.

Since then, his relationship with Yankees fans has been somewhat rocky. Defensive troubles in 2017 and 2018 left many frustrated. In those two seasons, Sanchez led the league in passed balls with 16 in 2017 and 18 in 2018. What’s worse, in 2018, despite showing elite power ability, he only managed to hit .186 for the season.

At the end of the day, however, Sanchez has been the best Yankees catcher since Jorge Posada, who retired in 2011. Also, given some improvements defensively and offensively in 2019, at some point, if he continues to get better, he can rank among the best catchers in MLB.

Mark Teixeira, First Base

  • 2x Gold Glove
  • 2015 All-Star

Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees ahead of the 2009 season alongside CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. Together, this trio helped the organization obtain its 27th title.

Initially, Teixeira lived up to the hype, hitting 72 HR with 230 RBI in his first two seasons with the Yanks. After that, however, with the advent of the shift, it was his defensive prowess that warmed him up to Yankees fans.

Teixeira finally retired from baseball in 2016, leaving a whole in first base that the Yanks have struggled to fill. Since his departure, we’ve seen Tyler Austin, Greg Bird, Chris Carter, Ji-Man Choi, Luke Voit, and Mike Ford spend time at first. It is unclear who will man the position in 2020.

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