Gary Sanchez, a 23 year old righty swinger, is expected to be called up by the Yankees Wednesday (it’s not official as of this writing, but everyone expects him to be called up). The 6’2”, 230 lbs backstop seems likely to see some work at designated hitter, but it also sounds like he could see time behind the dish as the Yankees move Brian McCann into the designated hitter role more often with the deal that sent Carlos Beltran to the Rangers.
THE NUMBERS
| Level | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | RUNS | SB |
2010 | Rookie, Low-A | 173 | .329 | 8 | 43 | 33 | 2 |
2011 | A | 301 | .256 | 17 | 52 | 49 | 2 |
2012 | Low-A, High-A | 435 | .290 | 18 | 85 | 65 | 15 |
2013 | High-A, AA | 454 | .253 | 15 | 71 | 50 | 3 |
2014 | AA | 429 | .270 | 13 | 65 | 48 | 1 |
2015 | AA, AAA | 365 | .274 | 18 | 62 | 50 | 7 |
2016 | AAA | 284 | .282 | 10 | 50 | 39 | 7 |
Career | 636 Games | 2,441 | .275 | 99 | 428 | 334 | 37 |
Now his rankings amongst all prospects in baseball.
| Baseball America | Baseball Prospectus | MLB.com |
2011 | 30th | 29th | X |
2012 | 81st | 40th | 53rd |
2013 | 57th | 47th | 36th |
2014 | 35th | 85th | 47th |
2015 | X | X | X |
2016 | 36th | 92nd | 59th |
THE SKILLS
Signed as a 16 year old out of the Dominican Republic, Sanchez has a strong arm defensively and nice power bat offensively. His numbers haven’t really matched up with the overall expectations, but he’s been much better the last two seasons at Triple-A with a .288/.343/.482 slash line over 105 outings. He’s also been very productive with 10 homers and 50 RBI over 71 outings. Let’s look a bit deeper.
First off, Sanchez has some ‘tude. His effort has been questioned from time to time, as in he hasn’t given his all every time his foot touches the diamond. He’s also been suspended for the field stuff too. Still, by many accounts, things have improved since last year. In fact, scouts have noticed improvement all around the past year and a half from Sanchez.
Sanchez might not be a strong batting average contributor. His swing can get long at times, and he can be overly aggressive, but he does have that nice loft in his swing that should let him hit balls deep. A .275 minor league hitter, Sanchez has averaged 111 strikeouts per 500 at-bats. Folks see a number like that and don’t blink anymore. However, his 0.40 BB/K mark is virtually league average. The length of his swing, and that rate, speak to the concerns with Sanchez and batting average. He’s not likely to hit .275 in the bigs.
Sanchez has the stroke, and power, of a guy who could challenge 20 homers in the big leagues. At the same time, he’s never hit 20 homers in a season before so it’s not a given that he will become that guy at the big league level right off the hop. Moreover, check out his SLG marks since 2013: .412, .406, .485, .468. A solid bat, but not an elite one.
A positive point is rather even work from Sanchez meaning he might not need a platoon mate. This season he has a .288/.342/.438 slash line against lefties and a .280/.338/.479 mark against righties. That’s really the first time he’s leveled things out, he’s been much better against lefties in the past, though the recent turns speaks to his growth as a hitter.
PLAYING TIME
This could change, but this is what appears likely to happen.
Carlos Beltran is now with the Rangers (see the Deadline Recap article). That opens up a spot in the daily lineup with the Yankees. The expectation is that Brian McCann will catch a bit but that he will see more time at the designated hitter spot to allow Sanchez to catch a lot moving forward. Again, that’s the expectation as of this writing, though it’s not a certainty (with Alex Rodriguez posting a .609 OPS this season, there’s little reason to expect him to suddenly assert himself forcing the Yankees to keep him in the lineup on a daily basis).
CONCLUSION
Sanchez could be a massive addition in AL-only leagues as the second best option to add behind Jonathan Lucroy.
In mixed leagues Sanchez needs to be added if you start two backstops. He should play enough to be a potential bottom level second catcher, and his bat could move him up to the middle of that second group of catchers the rest of the way. There are so many blah inducing options behind the dish this season that taking a shot on Sanchez makes a whole lot of sense since there will always be some schlub on waivers to add back if Sanchez fails. Sanchez profiles as a hitter in the vain of Stephen Vogt, and that plays.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 6 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).