CLEVELAND — Brian Cashman said Gary Sanchez’s mind was in the right place during the winter when the catcher decided he needed to get stronger. Nevertheless, the general manager also looks at Sanchez’s inability to block balls as a side effect of that program.
“Defensively, he is not like he was last year. He added eight to 12 pounds of muscle and his body fat stayed the same, but I don’t think he has the flexibility,’’ Cashman said less than 24 hours after Sanchez failed to block two wild pitches and was charged with an MLB-leading 12th passed ball in a 7-2 loss to the Indians at Progressive Field on Friday night. “It was good intentions and bad results.’’
Sanchez was the designated hitter against the Indians on Saturday, with Austin Romine behind the plate and Matt Holliday given the day off.
While admitting Sanchez, who hit 20 homers in the final two months of 2016 and shut down the opposition’s running game with a powerful arm, is heavier, Cashman said the perception by some that Sanchez is out of shape is wrong.
“He is physically bigger but not fat,’’ Cashman said of the 6-foot-2 Sanchez who is listed in the Yankees’ 2017 media guide as weighing 230 pounds. However, that was printed before spring training and listed the same weight as the 2016 guide. “He has limited flexibility.’’
Following the Yankees’ fourth straight loss Friday night, manager Joe Girardi said Sanchez needs to become better behind the plate.
“He needs to improve, bottom line he needs to improve,’’ Girardi said of Sanchez, who has 10 errors to go with the dozen passed balls, and had Austin Romine take his spot behind the plate Saturday. “He is late getting down [to block pitches in the dirt]. That’s what I see sometimes. It is something that we are working on and continue to work on.’’
And also very difficult to correct during a six-month season.
“Our strength and conditioning staff has spoken to Gary but it’s hard to do during the season,’’ Cashman said. “He is a good kid who works hard and cares.’’
This is not the first time Cashman has witnessed a young player make efforts to get stronger without guidance from the club and have it backfire.
“It’s not dissimilar to [Luis] Severino,’’ Cashman said of the right-hander who added muscle following the 2015 season and experienced a disastrous 2016 year. “He bulked up and wasn’t the same player.’’
Severino shredded the extra weight this past offseason and has developed into an All-Star and the Yankees’ ace, taking an 8-4 record and 2.98 ERA into Sunday’s game against the Indians.
Girardi mentioned in Seattle on July 23 that Sanchez’s defense needed work, but Friday the manager’s words were stronger after Sanchez cost the Yankees a run with a passed ball and another when he didn’t block a wild pitch from Chad Green that glanced off his right wrist and required an ice wrap afterward.
“A lot of times it is their stance. Sometimes their rear-end sags and sometimes you miss-read a ball,’’ Girardi said of Sanchez not getting down to block pitches. “And sometimes not anticipating.’’
Asked if Sanchez has regressed defensively from last year, Girardi said he wasn’t sure but is looking for improvement.
“I don’t know. Sometimes when you get a chance to see someone for a full season it’s a little different but it is something he is capable of doing a better job,’’ Girardi said.
Even if he isn’t close to the home-run machine he was last August and September, Sanchez still is having a very good offensive season for a catcher. Despite missing three-plus weeks early in the year with a biceps injury, he entered Saturday night’s action hitting .267 with 17 homers, 52 RBIs and a .834 OPS.
And it hasn’t been a complete disaster behind the plate. Pitchers have logged a 3.54 ERA throwing to him, which would place him second among MLB catchers if he qualified for the title, and Sanchez has caught 35 percent of the baserunners attempting to steal. That would make him fifth in baseball if he qualified.