Yankees 2017 youth movement in review: Casa de suenos

C Gary Sanchez; 24

It is probably unfair to include Sanchez on this list since he proved his potential last year. But he’s a great player, is still a young Yankee, and spent 2017 having a historic season.

Even though Gary endured an injury, and earned both a benching and a suspension, it would be unfair to call this an up-and-down year. The positives have just outweighed the negatives.

Gary did some growing during his 111 games, but he was already pretty big. His slash is great for a catcher: .283/.350/.543. His 31 home runs, however, lead all catchers and it’s not close. Only four other catchers have even twenty homers, Salvador Perez being the closest with 25.

Of course, every Yankees player dreams of competing with legends; but future catchers will one daydream about Gary:

"Hall of Famer Yogi Berra twice hit 30 homers in a season. Jorge Posada hit 30 in 2003. Hall of Famer Bill Dickey slugged 29 in 1937 and 12-time All-Star Elston Howard hit 28 in his 1963 MVP season. Now Sanchez has outdone them all."

And Sanchez missed a month of the season.

Add that to his 18 doubles, and the Yankees have the most dynamic offensive catcher in the game. That is never truer than in the fifth month of the season when he transforms from Yo Soy Gary to The August Mr. Sanchez.

He owns the month offensively as much as Jackson ever owned October.

"That doesn’t quite capture the drama of Sanchez’s August, which featured a benching, a celebrity encounter and the brawl. Oh, and 12 homers, along with an outstanding .287/.347/.648 slash line."

And even though he needs to work on one aspect of his defense, his arm strength needs no improvement. Sanchez has the games best cannon behind the plate and routinely guns down the fastest players in the American League.

Gary Sanchez showed that 2016 was no fluke and that he can still be better than he has been in 2017. That’s a thought that will cause other clubs to have nightmares. And Yankees fans to have many happy dreams.