Gary Sanchez was passing out T-shirts in the Yankee locker room to
his teammates a few days back that read :
#I AM GARY
This ties into the fact that when Gary makes a comment from his Twitter
account he ends it with #IamGary & also in Spanish ..
#YO SOY GARY
Sanchez was an August call up, after the Yankees waived the white flag on the season
by trading off three of their best players before the August 1st. trade deadline.
Gary will play only 1/3 of the season, but what an impact he made.
Despite limited play, he deserves serious consideration for
R.O.Y. (Rookie Of the Year honors)
Here’s why ..
As of today Sept. 29th, his 2016 season’s stat line is :
50 GP, 190 AB, 20 HR, 42 RBI, .311 BA, .387 OBP, .689 SLG, 1.076 OPS
Sanchez was inserted into a struggling Yankee line-up that had just
traded off their best hitter Carlos Beltran.
The talented 23 year old was the biggest reason the Yankees unexpectedly
battled back into playoff contention, and amazingly helped keep them
mathematically alive going into the final week of the season.
In fact he dominated, and tied an 86 year old MLB record
by hitting 20 Home Runs within his first 51 career games.
In addition Sanchez has been solid defensively and has displayed
one of the strongest (if not the strongest) throwing arms
of any catcher in the league, many times shutting down
the opposition’s running game by throwing out base stealers,
and also picking base runners off in key spots.
Detroit Tiger starting pitcher Michael Fulmer has been the favorite
to win rookie honors all season long. He started off the first half
of the season 9-2 with a 2.11 ERA in 13 starts but has finished
11-7, 3.06 ERA in 26 starts.
To his credit, Fulmer would have possibly earned the lowest ERA of any starter
with his 3.06 ERA (fractionally lower than Aaron Sanchez who has one more
scheduled start and is also @ 3.06 )
however he did not reach the qualifying innings.
His 159 innings pitched fell just short of the required minimum
162 innings.
You can make a strong argument for either gifted 23 year old,
but here’s hoping that the next time Gary is handing out
T-shirts to his teammates it reads ..
#YO ROY GARY
( I am Rookie of the Year Gary !! )
Most importantly, on the field, Gary needs to remember the
approach that made him successful. He needs to focus
on hitting the ball hard gap to gap. That is what enabled him to
hit for power AND average. Recently he looks like he is trying to
pull the ball more. He looks like he is out in front and top hand
dominant. He looks like he is trying to hit home runs instead of
just trying to hit the ball hard. There have been a number of
“foul home runs” that show that he is getting more out in front
than staying inside the ball and driving it hard up the middle.
Also.. defensively he has allowed a few past balls where he
looks like he got crossed-up by the pitch.
These are minor adjustments for a player with enormous
natural ability and instinct. Gary Sanchez has energized the
Yankee team and its fan base !! Once Sanchez fully establishes
himself as a bona-fide leader and star he can print up
a few more T-Shirts. Here’s a couple of my suggestions ..
#SAN’SATIONAL
&
#SAN.THE.MAN !!!!!
