Sanchez playing old-school ‘D’ that new school doesn’t get
CHICAGO – Everyone celebrated Gary Sanchez’s threerun homer that night. In the top of the ninth at Camden Yards, with the Yankees tied with lowly Orioles, Sanchez blasted a line drive into the left field seats. A monster three-run homer, the Yankees rally to win. Sanchez got the championship belt, handed out to the game’s MVP in team’s postgame, clubhouse celebration.
But Sanchez’s biggest play May 20 was hardly noticed half an inning earlier.
With the Orioles’ Jonathan Villar on third base, Zack Britton struggling with his sinker, shoved a wild one into the dirt. Sanchez got behind it, Villar stayed put at third, Britton took a deep breath and got the Yankees out of the inning.
“He saved me there. I had no control, nothing on that, he blocked that ball and saved the run,” Britton said after that game. “All the stuff about Gary not being a good defensive catcher, the passed balls and all that, it’s way overblown. Way too overblown.”
As is often the case with catchers in the era of analytics, the perception of Sanchez is not always the whole story. The data-driven men running the game now quantify catchers’overall impact on the defense and games. It’s a better glimpse than an ugly play or two, though it too is vulnerable to human error and influenced by a player’s reputation.
“Back in the day, it was talked about, who was a good receiver, who was a good framer, by the pitchers and the standard was if it made the pitcher look good,” former big-league catcher and current Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We got enough technology now, it doesn’t matter what the guy looks like, if he’s getting more strikes than the other guy, that’s what you want.”
Cash said that and the evolution of power pitchers flirting with 100-miles an hour and muscular bullpens that throw hard and crazy breaking balls makes being a big-league catcher harder these days.
“The demands are greater, the pressure is greater, the pitchers are harder to catch,” Cash said. “And you have all these new ways to measure up.” Of course, Sanchez has more than “measured up,” this season in the fans eyes.
The calls to trade the catcher because of his major-league leading 18 passed balls last season have long faded into cheers for the 20 home runs he has hit already this season. But the criticism still stings and lingers whenever there is a question about his play.
Sanchez is easily dinged for an error or a wild pitch by an official scorer because of that reputation without the benefit of a review.
“Sometimes when you are given a certain reputation, it’s hard to shake it off,” Sanchez said through the Yankees’ interpreter Marlon Abreu. “Even when you are doing good things out there they don’t notice. The moment you do one bad thing out there, the moment you make a mistake, rightfully so because we are human at the end, we are bound to make mistakes. Yeah, when you have a reputation, you make a mistake it kind of catches fire. The other things you do on the field go unnoticed. So yeah, it’s a little frustrating.”
Sanchez has heard the complaints about his catching, especially last season. Defensively, if you pay attention, Sanchez’s work this winter on blocking balls is showing.
He is tied for 12th in the majors with four passed balls this season, one fewer than the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto, and catchers known for their defense like Jonathan Lucroy and Martin Maldanado.
The Yankees are watching and are not surprised by this turn.
“I felt like he was improving on that throughout last year. It’s something he works really hard at behind the scenes. A very big focus. Something that we want to continue to see him improve on,” Aaron Boone said of Sanchez’s improved ability to block pitches. “There is no question, from a blocking standpoint is something that he’s been better at.” But if you look at Sanchez’s defense strictly through numbers, he is having a worse year than last season.
While his passed balls have improved remarkably, Sanchez’s framing numbers are down this year. Last season, Sanchez Framing Runs Above average rate was 2.7 and his Defensive Runs Saved was 6, according to FanGraphs. This year? Sanchez’s FRA is -5.7 and his DRS is -2.
While this has assigned a number to what a catcher does most in a game — receive the ball — is it really a fair representation? For Sanchez there are some glaring errors.
On June 5, Sanchez received his daily report analyzing his defense from the night before.