Yankees: Has Gary Sanchez finally returned to form?

In the early going Yankees slugger, Gary Sanchez has done a 360 degree turn from his disappointing 2018, back to his All-Star 2017 form.

The Yankees have battled everything thrown at them this season. There has been an overwhelming amount of injuries and a lack of performance from certain starting pitchers.

Recently, Gary Sanchez was among those to join the highly populated injured list with a calf strain, but he has bounced back since becoming healthy.

Sanchez, who has 20 hits in 20 games played this season, leads this Yankees in several categories at the plate. His 11 home-run blasts are one better than Luke Voit, and his slugging percentage of .714 is also the highest on the team.

The baseball is also jumping from his bat in the early going of the season. When Sanchez makes contact with the ball, he hits it hard 56.9% of the time, according to FanGraphs.

That is 6.9% more than the second hardest hitting Yankee, Aaron Judge. This is important because his career average for hard-hit balls is 38.5%.

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This favorable stretch for Sanchez is crucial because the core of this club has been gutted with injuries. Him being healthy and productive will be that much more influential once the other everyday players return.

Miguel Andujar was recently reinstated from the IL, Aaron Hicks is seeing action with High-A Tampa, and Clint Frazier is back in the Bronx.

At 20-14, the Yankees are just two games back of Tampa Bay for the AL East lead. With the devastation left behind from the injury bug, that record is remarkable. Sanchez, alongside Luke Voit and Gleyber Torres, have been a considerable part of the success in the early going.

But, despite all of the good things coming from Sanchez’s bat, there is still an emphasis on his biggest weakness — defense.

In 139 innings behind the plate this season, he has committed five errors. To compare that to last season, he committed his fifth error in his 69th game behind the plate as opposed to just 15 games.

Even still, the recent surge from Sanchez is exactly what the Yankees need right now. It’s nice to see his resurgence from a terrible 2018 season.

The grueling summer months are coming and keeping up this hot streak will be tough. Sanchez, who has been projected to be a Comeback Player of the Year candidate, has certainly played that way thus far.

He has shined through as a consistent player in an inconsistent lineup, and his play has kept the Yankees in contention in the AL East. For now, Sanchez is playing like an All-Star and is beginning to look like the most valuable player of this team.