Gary Sánchez's San Francisco Giants audition isn't going so well

The optimal outcome for former fan favorite Gary Sánchez, since his trade away from the Yankees in early 2022, has always been the same: find success, but find it far away from here.

Judging by those parameters, San Francisco seemed like a pretty good spot. Sánchez officially ended the winter Yankees speculation by signing a minor-league deal with the Giants on March 31.

When trying to identify "teams of need" this offseason, the Giants always found their way to the top of the list in the catching search. Former top prospect/Buster Posey replacement Joey Bart hasn't clicked the way the team anticipated, and veteran backstop Roberto Peréz, who seemed poised to fill the role, succumbed to surprise shoulder surgery this week.

That puts outfielder/catcher Blake Sabol under the spotlight, and seemingly gives Sánchez a chance to earn a promotion prior to his opt out, which allows him to seek new opportunities if he's not promoted to the MLB roster by May 1.

Through Thursday night, Sánchez has been unable to shake off the rust, going 3-for-22 with 7 strikeouts at Triple-A.

Former Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez is struggling at Triple-A

Despite the tough start, it still seems as if Giants manager Gabe Kapler expects Sánchez to reach the big leagues soon.

Per the manager:

"“I’m hearing good things [about Sanchez], also that there’s some rust to knock off there,” San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler told the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week. “Joey [Bart] hasn’t needed a whole lot of time because he was already built up and ready to go. Gary [Sánchez] doesn’t have that foundation built up yet. So we need to do that for him at Triple-A.”"

It sounds like, for the time being, San Francisco will continue to roll with Bart and Sabol, but the franchise does have designs around promoting the bat-first Sánchez prior to his opt-out date.

Here's hoping it all clicks soon; the Giants and Yankees do not cross paths again this season, and we wish him nothing but the best. He's still just 30 years old.