Girardi: Sanchez’s D ‘a work in progress’
SEATTLE — Only the delusional thought Gary Sanchez had a chance to repeat what he did last August and September across a six-month season.
Yet, it isn’t out of the question to have expected more from the 24-year-old All-Star catcher than he has delivered so far.
“I think he has had a decent year. I think he is capable of playing better,’’ manager Joe Girardi said before Sunday’s 6-4 victory at Safeco Field. “I think there are things that he is learning as I think all young catchers do. There are things that happen at this level that you are not really exposed to at the lower levels and you have to learn on the fly.’’
Girardi said Sanchez’s numbers “are still pretty good’’ but acknowledged there is work to be done behind the plate. Sanchez went 0-for-5 Sunday and is hitting .265 overall, but is in an 8-for-39 (.205) slump and has only hit two homers in his last 95 at-bats.
“He is still a work in progress. I think he can get better. We have had to make some adjustments. He came up last year and caught pretty well so we didn’t make a lot of adjustments, but he has had some struggles this year and we went to work,’’ said Girardi, a defense-first catcher in his playing days. “Very seldom is a catcher in his first four months in the big leagues a finished product. It takes a lot of work.’’
Charged with a passed ball in the ninth inning Sunday, Sanchez leads the AL with nine. His nine errors were the second most in the game behind the Cubs’ Wilson Contreras, who had 13. Girardi said the medical profession has eliminated assigning grade levels to muscle injuries so he doesn’t know the severity of Starlin Castro’s right hamstring problem. “The new thing in sports is that they are not giving grades. I have not been given a grade and he will be healthy when he is healthy,’’ the manager said of his second baseman, who went on the 10-day disabled list Sunday with a right hamstring problem.
This is Castro’s second DL stint. He was out from June 26-July 15 with an injury to the same hamstring, although in a different area.
Tyler Wade was elevated from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Castro’s spot and went 1-for-1 with a double and walk. Girardi said he will platoon the left-handed hitting Wade with the righthanded hitting Ronald Torreyes. This is Wade’s second big league stint. Once considered a prospect by the Yankees because of his bat, Rob Refsnyder was dealt Sunday to the Blue Jays for first baseman Ryan McBroom, who batted .243 with 12 homers and 54 RBIs in 96 games for Double-A New Hampshire. McBroom will join Double-A Trenton.