Yankees: The five biggest surprises during the 2018 season
Gary Sanchez’s struggles in 2018 surprised me more than anything. After he burst onto the scene in 2016 with a historic rookie campaign where he hit 20 HR in just 53 games Sanchez followed that up by posting 33 HR and 90 RBI in his sophomore season. Coming into 2018 I expected him to be in the MVP race. Nobody has the skillset that Sanchez does playing at such a premium position, but in 2018 he struggled mightily batting .186 with 18 HR and 53 RBI in just 89 games.
Sanchez started his season ice cold and hit into a ton of bad luck and it seemed he lost his confidence and was pressing a lot to make up for his lackluster numbers all season long. In June, he strained his groin and missed a lot of time before coming back only to reinjure that same groin three games into his return from the DL.
It was a nightmare season for EL Gary on both sides of the ball but he almost salvaged it with a strong postseason performance against the Red Sox in the ALDS. Sanchez’s two home run, four RBI performance in Game 2 at Boston single handily kept the Yanks from getting swept and then in Game 4 he came just a couple feet short of hitting a walk-off grand slam against Craig Kimbrel to force a Game 5.
The way he played in October should give Yankee fans hope that 2019 will be a big turnaround season for Sanchez because we all know he’s so much better than what he showed this year. The Yankees know it too which is why they’ll continue to roll with Sanchez in 2019 and beyond because you don’t give up on that kind of talent after one down year. Next season is obviously a huge one for Gary but he has all the tools to flip the script.