TAMPA — Psst!
Over here in the corner, tucked away from the headlines screaming about all the home runs Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are going to hit this coming season.
Remember me, Gary Sanchez? Hit 20 homers in 53 games in 2016. All-Star catcher last season when I missed almost a month and still clubbed 33 homers. Was going to team with Judge to provide middle-of-the-order muscle to the Yankees’ lineup. Then Stanton arrived and suddenly the Towers of Power smothered everything else in the Yankees’ galaxy.
Sanchez might not have the star appeal of Judge and Stanton, but he is considered by many in the Yankees’ organization to be the club’s most complete hitter and crucial to the river of runs this lineup is expected to produce in 2018.
For those who may have overlooked the 25-year-old catcher since the start of spring training, Sanchez reminded everybody just how lethal his bat can be Wednesday by crushing a two-run home run off Tigers lefty Daniel Norris over the scoreboard in left-center in the first inning of a 9-6 Yankees loss at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“It looked like back in [the Home Run] Derby, kicking my butt,” Stanton said of Sanchez’s titanic blast.
In the early days of batting practice, Sanchez admitted he turned into a fan when watching Judge and Stanton, who hit in the same group as Sanchez and blasted balls out of the park.
Wednesday, Judge said that was Sanchez being Sanchez.
“That was wild. I was inside and I heard it inside, in the clubhouse. I was going in to take more swings,” Judge said of the blast that in years will be described as reaching Dale Mabry Highway. “I saw it on TV and it’s explosive. That’s what Gary does. It’s like he can wake up out of bed, take a few swings and do that. It’s pretty impressive.”
Asked if he felt the attention sliding away from him since Stanton became a Yankee, Sanchez said that doesn’t have anything to do with his responsibilities.
“The plan never changes, my personal plan is just do the job,” Sanchez said. “You don’t worry about that, make sure you are doing your job regardless of what is going on in the clubhouse.’’
Eventually, manager Aaron Boone will settle into a lineup against right-handers and left-handers. He could move Sanchez around in the middle, hitting anywhere from second to fifth and watch him punish pitchers.
“It was like a line drive to left-center that, oh by the way, it just went over the scoreboard,” Boone said. “It’s fun to watch him go up there and hit. It feels like he is on the hunt. He is up there looking to do damage. He has such a good look up there. Early on he looks incredibly comfortable up there.”
Thanks to some very serious defensive flaws a year ago that got him benched and publicly prodded by then-manager Joe Girardi to improve behind the plate, Sanchez’s year at the plate got somewhat lost, even though he batted .278 with 33 homers, 90 RBIs and an OPS of .876.
Now, Stanton’s arrival has taken some of the spotlight away from him, which Sanchez doesn’t mind.
“Not at all. I have said many times before my job is to go out there and give the best I have and work with the pitching staff,’’ Sanchez said. “I don’t mind at all.’’