Yankees: Why Gary Sanchez could be the X-Factor against Boston

The 2018 season has been one to forget for Yankees All-Star catcher Gary Sanchez and one that’s been plagued by injuries and poor play both behind the plate and in the batter’s box.

The downfall of Sanchez this season has been hard to explain after he was one of the game brightest young stars over the past two seasons. Many including myself looked at El Gary as a potential MVP candidate for the Yankees heading into this season, but it hasn’t worked out that way at all. If you had told me that he’d finish the year batting .186 and end up batting eighth in a postseason game there’s no way myself or anyone else for that matter would believe it.

You could make a strong argument that Sanchez was the most talented catcher in baseball entering this season. However, the tools that made him so great in 2016-17 have disappeared for much of 2018 which has led to Sanchez being one of the most disappointing players in baseball this season.

Despite his struggles, there’s still a chance for Sanchez to salvage his nightmare season with a strong postseason for the Yanks this October. There’s a lot of pressure on him to step up and perform but an ALDS matchup against the Red Sox could be just what he needs to break out.

Throughout his young career, Sanchez has been a thorn in the Red Sox side especially at Fenway Park where both Games 1 and 2 will take place. It’s the same ballpark where he hit his first career home run, one of eight in his career at Fenway. Overall he’s taken Red Sox pitchers deep 13 times in just two and a half big league seasons and he’s had the most success against Boston’s David Price who will start Saturday night.

In his career, Sanchez owns Price with a .462 AVG, 5 HR, 4 BB, and 11 RBI. So no matter how much Sanchez has struggled this season one at-bat against Price could help him turn things around in a hurry.

But first Sanchez will go up against Boston’s ace Chris Sale tonight who he’s only hit .150 against in 20 at-bats. Sanchez and everyone else in the Yankees lineup have struggled mightily against Sale, but that was before he missed time the majority of the second half with shoulder inflammation. Sale has dominated the Yankees but that was when he sported a fastball that ranged from 96-98mph and a wipeout slider. The last time Sale pitched on September 26th he was only throwing 90-91 with his fastball, the lowest mark of his career.

We’ll have to wait and see how hard Sale gets it up there tonight but if he’s still throwing in the low 90s he could have a tough time against Sanchez and the rest of the Yankees right-handed heavy lineup. Sanchez has only slugged .367 facing righties this season but .518 against southpaws so don’t be surprised if he gets into one against Sale if he’s less than 100%.

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Sanchez is obviously in the lineup strictly for his bat and not his defense, but he did deliver a clean game behind the plate in Wednesday night’s Wild Card win over the A’s. And as bad as he’s been behind the plate all year one thing he does do better than his backup Austin Romine is controlling the running game.

That ability will certainly come in handy against a Boston offense that loves to run and put the pressure on the defense. Sanchez has only thrown out 30% of base stealers this season but his career mark of .364 is above average and teams don’t run on him as much because they know he possesses a cannon for an arm.

It’s Sanchez’s arm and his power bat that earned him the trust of the Yankees front office because they believe his upside gives them the best chance to win, and rightfully so. You just don’t give up on a guy with his skill set because he can still change the outcome of a game with one swing of the bat or one big throw.

As I’ve said before October is a fresh start for everyone especially the players who didn’t put the numbers they’d like to during the regular season. For Gary Sanchez, he can still make this a season to remember with a big division series against the Red Sox. Now is the time for redemption and the time to remind Yankee fans why’s he still a great player who should never be doubted.