GARY GOES TO SCHOOL ON NEW RULE

Wristband among options as Sanchez learns to deal with mound-visit limit

Last Thursday, Gary Sanchez used a wristband during a spring training game for the first time.

It was a concept the Yankees discussed last year in an attempt to offset sign-stealing and limit the number of times Sanchez had to stop action to go to the mound during innings. But the club never went through with it.

With MLB implementing a new rule this season that limits teams to six mound visits for a nine-inning game — including conversations between position players and pitchers — measures are being taken throughout the league to adjust.

And since Sanchez has gained a reputation as perhaps the most talkative of backstops, the Yankees could be affected even more than others.

“I think it’s gonna impact every catcher,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said last week in Tampa. “I wouldn’t pinpoint Gary. With the way signs get stolen now because of video, that’s what’s happened in the game. We just have to come up with ways to combat it.”

Should the Yankees have their catchers wearing wristbands in regular-season games, they hope it will allow them to change signs during an at-bat without talking. The Indians used them last season and the Rays and Mets have introduced them this spring.

Asked if they would be used like the ones quarterbacks wear in the NFL, Rothschild said: “We’re not going to be running outpatterns.”

While the Yankees declined to get into specifics about the wristbands, other teams use them primarily for pitch sequences so catchers and pitchers can change signs during an at-bat.

Although it’s impossible to track mound visits from previous years, there is anecdotal evidence that Sanchez, with or without wristbands, figures to be among the catchers with the most to adapt to. The Post reviewed nine random games from 2017 and in four of them, the Yankees would have exceeded the new limit. Since umpires are already at least informally enforcing the rule this spring, the changes have already begun. “It’s definitely in your mind,” Sanchez said through an interpreter. “You’re limited. There have been a couple of times [during spring training] that I’ve prevented myself from going out there.” Despite the rule, Rothschild doesn’t want Sanchez — or anyone else — to totally alter the way he calls a game. “He gets it and understands it,’’ Rothschild said. “What he and everyone else needs to understand is when they need to go to the mound, go. It’s too important. We’ll have to take care of it as we go along. You have to stop it when you have to stop it and not worry about what’s gonna happen later in the game. … It’s something no one has dealt with, so it’s a new experience for everyone.” And it will eliminate innings like the bottom of the eighth of the Yankees’ game on June 27 in Chicago. The Yankees had taken a 3-1 lead over the White Sox’s with three runs in the top of the inning. The White Sox broadcast on CSN showed the Yankees had already had three mound visits by the bottom of the eighth under this year’s definition of the rule. Two of them came in the first, as Sanchez spoke twice with Luis Severino. Those discussions, while slowing down the game momentarily, allowed Severino to settle down and pitch seven solid innings. Entering the bottom of the eighth, Severino was replaced by rookie Domingo German. German walked the leadoff hitter, and after falling behind 2-0 on the next batter, got a visit from Rothschild for the fourth visit of the game. German was yanked following his second walk and Tyler Clippard entered. With Melky Cabrera at the plate, Clippard threw a wild pitch and then issued another walk to load the bases. Then, with Jose Abreu up, Clippard got ahead, 0-2 and Sanchez went to the mound for visit number five.

Clippard followed by throwing a ball, but got Abreu swinging on the next pitch. Avisail Garcia followed by flying out to shallow right for the second out.

With the count full to Todd Frazier — who was still with Chicago — Sanchez visited Clippard again for a sixth trip and White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone commented how the catcher was affecting Clippard’s rhythm. He may have had a point, as Clippard walked Frazier to force in a run and make it 3-2.

That drew another visit from Rothschild — the fourth of the inning and seventh of the game — before Sanchez went out again with a 1-2 count to Matt Davidson. Three foul balls later, Sanchez went out for the final time — prompting a comment from Stone — and Clippard threw a ball to make the count full before whiffing Davidson to end the inning.

In all, the half inning lasted 30 minutes. And the last three visits of that inning — and the two the Yankees made in the bottom of the ninth of a game they lost — wouldn’t have been permitted this year.

But some of those trips were valuable, which led to curiosity about two particular aspects of the new rule:

Whether it will actually achieve its intent of speeding up the game, something Rothschild was skeptical about: “It’s hard to tell. Logically speaking, usually if you’re going to the mound, it’s to try to help a guy get an out. Outs make the game go quicker. I don’t know … maybe they don’t look at it that way. We’ll see.”

For instance, when Sanchez stopped action to talk to CC Sabathia after the lefty had surrendered two runs to the Red Sox in thehe bottom of the fifth, it was the catcher’ s first visit of the game. Both NESN broadcasters, Dave O’Brien and Dennis Eckersley, bemoanedoaned Sanchez’s propensity ensity for talking to hiss pitch-pitchers, but Sabathia’shia’s next pitch got an inning-ing-end-ending ground ball.

The secondd con-concern was the “graygray a re a ” mentionedned by multiple play-ayers who remainedned unclear how thehe rule would be enforced, including Austin Romine: “It’s gonna be tough. I don’t even know and I don’t think the umpires know. We’ve got to ask them every time. If we get crossed up, is it a visit? This is our safety.” Added Greg Bird: “After a pickoff [at first] and I take three steps toward the mound and say something, does that count? I don’t know. And it’s not something I’ve ever thought about before.”

During the course of a game, umpires will use their discretion as to what constitutes a mound visit.

According to the rule, a team will be notified when it has used up all its visits. If a player appears to be going to visit the pitcher after that happens, he will be told to stop by the umpires. Should the player not stop, they will be subject to ejection.

The increased number of discussions between pitchers and catchers is largely due to the use of technology to steal signs. As was the case in Chicago, when there’s a runner on second base, sign-stealing and mound visits can be even more of an issue.

“I’d like for there to be less dead time, but you still want to keep the integrity of the game,’’ Adam Warren said. “I just want some clarity on exactly how it’s gonna work.”

In t he meantime, Sanchez will be working with that wristband, the details of which he and Rothschild kept to themselves.

“It’s private,” Sanchez said with a laugh. “But it’s definitely helpful. I want to see how it works, but I know things are going to be different this year.”