Sanchez still confident despite nightmare year
If Gary Sanchez had even come close to matching expectations — both offensively and defensively — Aaron Boone likely wouldn’t have even been asked about his catcher leading into Wednesday’s wild-card matchup against the A’s. But after a season in which he finished with an MLB-worst 18 passed balls, despite two stints on the disabled list due to a groin injury, and an OPS (.697) that would have been the worst among catchers if he had enough plate appearances to qualify, Sanchez’s status was still not certain until Boone announced it Tuesday. “He will be my catcher and I am very confident,’’ Boone said before the team worked out at Yankee Stadium. Sanchez can turn the narrative of his season around Wednesday with one big hit or a solid game behind the plate, catching Luis Severino. He briefly displayed his prowess at the plate in a stretch during the final week of the regular season, when over the course of three games, Sanchez went 4-for-11 with two homers, a double, three walks and just two strikeouts. Much easier to find, though, are spans in which Sanchez looked hapless at the plate, flailing at pitches outside of the strike zone. For instance, there were the 19 games after he came back from his second DL stint, when San- chez went 10-for-66 with four extra-base hits, 11 walks and 24 strikeouts.
“The idea is to go out there and have fun, enjoy the game and keep playing the way we’ve been playing the last couple of games,’’ Sanchez said through an interpreter after he took batting practice Tuesday. “I definitely felt really good the past 10 games and I’m looking to keep that consistency going.” Just as vital is his work with Severino. The last time the two were paired together against the A’s, Sanchez allowed two passed balls in the first inning in an 8-2 loss in Oakland on Sept. 5.
All parties involved — including Boone — insisted whatever issues existed that day have been rectified.
“Communication,’’ Sanchez said when asked what will be different about the two on Wednesday. “We’ve been doing a lot of that. It’s very important to have a good plan going into the game.”
Sanchez expressed confidence in the righthander, despite his rough second half.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that [Wednesday] he’s going to be able to get the job done,’’ Sanchez said.
As for the argument the battery had in the dugout during that game in Oakland last month, Boone chalked it up to Severino and Sanchez being “two passionate guys, two guys that are like brothers in a lot of ways and I’m confident they are in a good place and will be on the same page. I think they give us a great chance to win.”