It turns out the reason Gary Sanchez was being “lazy” stemmed from an injury he suffered during the game.
Monday night was a bad one for Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez. He appeared to pull up lame on a few plays, including the final out of the game which could have turned into a potential comeback for New York.
As a result, fans roasted him on Twitter since the optics were that he appeared to not be trying as hard as he could have. It was the general consensus, right up until it was proven otherwise.
Jon Heyman was the first to pass along the idea that Sanchez’s performance on Monday night might have been due to injury.
Word is, Gary Sanchez may have re-aggravated groin injury on first inning passed ball last night. He’s getting killed for “lazy” plays but perhaps this explains them. Was afraid to tell team initially because he dreads return to dl. Now will get treatment, try to avoid dl.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 24, 2018
This was later proven to be true. Buster Olney reported later in the day that Sanchez was going back to the DL
Word is that Gary Sanchez is being placed on the disabled list. Had an MRI today, which confirmed an injury.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 24, 2018
So after all the overreacting, of which even we did, it turns out things are a little more tragic than we realized. Sanchez so badly didn’t want to go back to the DL that he tried to play through an injury. That can be interpreted as selfish since it ultimately cost the Yankees the game, but that’s looking at the surface level only.
As good as the young Yankees have been, Sanchez hasn’t been a big part of it. He’s been criticized for his lack of hustle all season, something that seems to be stemming from this injury. Yankees fans are always quick to jump to conclusions, it’s part of what makes them one of the 250 most passionate fandoms in the world.
But it’s a double-edged sword and something that isn’t always kept in check.