Fansided

Gary Sanchez’s Yankees future shouldn’t even be up for discussion

By Tre LyDay

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 01: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Gary Sanchez #24 of the New York Yankees in action against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on August 01, 2020 in New York City. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 5-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 01: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Gary Sanchez #24 of the New York Yankees in action against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on August 01, 2020 in New York City. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 5-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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Gary Sanchez had a forgettable 2020 season, and now there’s questions about what the Yankees should do with him

The New York Yankees were eliminated by the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS this season. It was definitely not the season they had hoped for, shortened campaign or not.

The 60-game season also was a major case of small sample size baseball. Some of the games, elite players looked like shells of themselves compared to recent years. With the stoppage of Spring Training and then the short Summer Camp in July, things definitely didn’t play a lot of players’ favors.

One Yankee who would love to forget about this season is Gary Sanchez

The 27-year-old catcher finished the season with a slash line of .147/.243/.365 with a .618 OPS — a far cry from his usual production that Yankees fans have become accustomed to. The abysmal season and subsequent benching in the ALDS has raised questions about his future with the team.

Those question should be put to bed.

Sanchez is not only the best catcher the Yankees have in their entire organization, he’s one of the better backstops in all of baseball when he’s on. The Yankees would be making a foolish mistake to go with Kyle Higashioka, who has a career wRC+ is 55, or any other catcher in baseball not named J.T. Realmuto.

From 2016-2019 out of all catchers in baseball Sanchez had the highest wRC+, wOBA and he had the most home runs in only 370 games. His 11.5 fWAR was fifth among catchers in that time frame.

Prior to the 2020 season, Sanchez had only had one season with a wRC+ below 100, and that was his injury riddled 2018 season when he only played in 89 games. Even in 106 games in 2019 he ended the season with a 116 wRC+ which was the fourth highest among catchers with at least 400 at-bats.

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The 2020 season may be seen as a failure but he still hit the ball harder than he ever has before, as his barrel percentage was still top three percent in baseball and he posted a hard hit percentage of nearly 50 percent. His struggles started with him having a whiff percentage of 34 percent, which led to to a strikeout rate of 36 percent.

Sanchez knows he has to learn from this season and improve, you probably don’t have to tell him that. He’s drastically improved defensively as a catcher in both blocking and framing balls, and he’s done that all while having three different catching coaches in three years.

The Yankees would be making a colossal mistake if they didn’t start or even traded Sanchez. He’s proven to be one of the best catchers in baseball and there should be no reason to believe he won’t rebound in 2021.

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