Five Reasons to Be Excited About the 2017 Yankees

A Full Season by Gary Sanchez!

Even though he’s been with the club for less than two months, rookie catcher Gary Sanchez has been the New York Yankees most valuable position player with three wins above replacement according to Baseball-Reference’s metric.

The 23-year-old won both the American League Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month awards for August, his first extended stint in the big leagues, becoming the fastest player to 13 home runs in baseball history in the process.

It would be unfair to expect a .337/.410/.747 (199 OPS+) batting line over a full season. Odds are, he’s not going to be a top-five player in baseball next year. However, an All-Star-caliber three-four WAR season doesn’t seem crazy considering the value Sanchez adds even when he’s not hitting.

There is a very good chance that Sanchez could challenge guys like Salvador Perez and Matt Wieters for the title of best catcher in the American League next year. If we want to get really crazy, the Kraken could even push his way into the MVP conversation if he manages to keep something resembling this production up for a full season in 2017.

We always knew Sanchez had power, so 30+ homers wouldn’t be a shock. It’s his contact skills and approach at the plate that were always his biggest question marks, but the improvements he’s shown the last two seasons seem to be legitimate. If they are, the Kraken could become one of baseball’s biggest stars over the next decade.