Yankees Gary Sanchez Named AL Player of the Week

New York Yankees rookie catcher Gary Sanchez was honored with the American League Player of the Week award on Monday August 22nd.

It’s impossible to overstate the impact Gary Sanchez has had on the New York Yankees offense since his promotion on August 3rd. The 23-year-old has hit six home runs in the first 15 games since being called up, hitting an insane .361/.409/.738 in 66 plate appearances this year.

The 23-year-old catcher has been even hotter over the last week, going 11-for-21 with two doubles, four homers, four runs scored, and six RBI. He has a .524/.600/1.190 (364 wRC+) slash line for the week in 25 plate appearances. He even swiped a bag for good measure.

Sanchez has also proven himself a true difference-maker on the other side of the ball, especially with his cannon of an arm. He threw out four of the six baserunners who were foolish enough to attempt to steal off of him last week.

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Sanchez has spent the last seven years in the New York Yankees minor league system after being signed out of the Dominican Republic as an international free agent in 2009. He received a whopping $3.2 million signing bonus and has ranked among the Yankees top prospects ever since he came stateside.

A veteran of the prospect list circuit, Gary Sanchez was listed on Baseball America’s preseason Top 100 list five times from 2011-2016. There were definitely some bumps along the way, but Sanchez has torn up the upper-minors for the last two years and now there is no stopping him.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today points out that Sanchez is the first Yankees catcher to win an AL Player of the Week award since Thurman Munson did it in 1976. New York has had some notable backstops since then, so that is quite an achievement for Sanchez. 

In the Senior Circuit, Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Robbie Ray won the award for the week. Ray may be best remembered by Yankees fans for being part of the trade that brought Didi Gregorius to the Bronx.

Gary Sanchez was the first in the recent wave of young players promoted to the Yankees following the trade deadline. He’s been joined by former minor league teammates Aaron Judge, Tyler Austin, Luis Cessa, and Chad Green to help New York make an unexpected late-season push for the second American League Wild Card, leading the Yankees to an 11-8 record so far this month.