Quickly read the title of this blog again, but with the stoic affectation of Joe Girardi behind them and it almost doesn’t sound ridiculous. Gary Sanchez is not “pretty good”, we are watching the first moments of an All-Star (quite possibly a HOF) career. We are hanging on his every at bat the way we did when Bryce Harper and Mike Trout were dazzling us their rookie season. Mark Teixeira, who has been forced to follow him in the batting order recently, was disrespected by Seattle as he saw Sanchez intentionally walked twice in their game on August 24th in order to pitch to him. Unfazed by the slap in the face, Teixeira said, in an interview after the game, * "Shoot, if Babe Ruth is hitting behind him, you intentionally walk him. I mean, he is as hot as any player I have played with in my entire career. You just don't see guys doing what he is doing. I don't care how old he is." Teixeira couldn’t be more right! It’s so tough to find a comparison for what Sanchez is doing with the bat, not to mention with his glove and arm - here’s the closest I found. Check out these two videos:
The first is Sanchez hitting his first career HR at Fenway Park and the second is Frank Thomas “The Big Hurt” hitting his first career HR.
There is a reason why Thomas was called “The Big Hurt”, the power was unquestionable and the bat speed was blistering. While we marvel at his power stats, it’s easy to forget that Frank Thomas also hit for a .301 AVG in his HOF career and had one of the best eyes in baseball. Thomas sprayed the ball to all parts of the field and ended his career with the 10th most BBs in MLB history (according to Baseball-Reference). The Yankees have a guy in Gary Sanchez that looks like he can put a “Big Hurt” on the other 29 teams in MLB, while also serving as a solid backstop behind the plate for many years to come!
* referencing an excerpt of an article by Andrew Marchand published on ESPN.com on 8/25/16
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So how will he avoid a bout of KevinMaasitis?
ReplyDeleteGood question! The easiest answer is that there’s only a month of the season left, so even if he cools off he won’t be in the hot seat for very long. Kevin Maas was filling in at 1B for Don Mattingly, so he was always going to be under fire even if he kept up his incredible home run pace.
DeleteMake no mistake, Gary Sanchez will cool off! His BAbip is .400 right now, which means his luck will most likely run out eventually (I mean...assuming he doesn’t hit every ball over the fence). However, he has been spraying the ball to all parts of the field (a 2B/HR to right field on Saturday and a single through the shift on Sunday), he’s driving in/scoring runs, and his defense has also been tremendous with multiple pitchers having raved about his ability to call games.
The Yankees have also been winning lately, coming within 3 games of the Wild Card and, let’s be honest, everything is easier when you’re winning. I won’t be surprised if he comes down to earth, or even fades away like Maas, but he’s been a lot of fun to watch and I’m looking forward to the future.