SAN DIEGO, CA – JUNE 5: Gary Sanchez #99 of the San Diego Padres hits a two-run home run in the second inning against the Chicago Cubs June 5, 2023 at Petco Park in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
For about half a decade, Gary Sanchez was a force. Between 2016 and 2019 the former Yankees catcher became the fastest player in the history of the American League to reach 100 home runs (in just 355 games) and is one of just two Yankees backstops ever to have a pair of 30-homer seasons.
The other is Yogi Berra. That’s seriously heady company to be in. In 2020 Sanchez's numbers fell off a proverbial cliff. He hit a scant .147. Now, he was certainly not the only one to suffer in the 60-game COVID-shortened season. But, his bat never recovered.
In 2021 he struggled and was traded to Minnesota, where in 2022 things got even worse. The Twins didn’t re-sign him, making Sanchez a free agent. You’d think a 2-time All-Star in the middle of his prime (he’s 30 years old) would have no trouble finding a new home. When Spring Training ended Sanchez was still available. The next two months he bounced around like a journeyman. Check out this transaction list:
April 1 - Signs Minor League contact with San Francisco Giants
April 1 - Assigned to AA Richmond Flying Squirrels
April 5 - Assigned to Arizona Complex League (rookie ball)
April 8 - Assigned to AAA Sacramento River Cats
May 2 - Released by Sacramento
May 9 - Signs Minor League contract with New York Mets
May 9 - Assigned to AAA Syracuse Mets
May 19 - Called up by NY Mets
May 25 - Designated for Assignment by NY Mets
May 29 - Claimed by Padres off Waivers from NY Mets
May 30 - Activated by Padres
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When he landed with the Friars even his manager didn’t really know what to expect from the formerly fearsome slugger.
“I wasn’t sure. I mean, I know what I saw on the other side and when he starts moving around you’re kind of wondering what’s going on,” says Padres skipper Bob Melvin, who was in the opposing dugout many times when his A’s played the Yankees. “I remember plenty of games against the Yankees when he’s at the plate and you don’t feel great about it because he’s got that kind of power.”
Turns out that power never left. It was just hiding.
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Sanchez has been reborn in San Diego. Over nine games he’s hit four home runs with nine RBI and a robust 1.168 OPS. Keep in mind the Padres entire catching corps had his just two homers combined all season. Before Sanchez arrived Friars catchers were last in baseball in OPS, slugging percentage, and batting average. His production alone has pulled them out of the basement in every major statistical category.
Add to that the fact Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts have been dealing with injuries and Jake Cronenworth and Trent Grisham have struggled most of the year so the Padres desperately need another bat in the lineup. Sanchez has put a very large finger in that dam and it looks like this is not an anomaly.
“I wouldn’t expect him to hit a homer every day, but his confidence is back,” says Melvin. “You see it, really, in every at-bat.”
All this begs the question: why? What happened to make Gary Sanchez remember just how good he is? As it turns out, all he really needed was to feel like he belonged somewhere again.
“The welcoming that I got from the coaching staff and my teammates, they made me feel really at home when I got here,” says Sanchez through Padres interpreter Danny Sanchez. “Right now, it’s just on me to get prepared and help the team.”
Melvin cosigns on that notion, saying sometimes an immense talent needs the right environment to blossom.
“He’s been with a few teams this year and it hasn’t been comfortable for him. I really credit the guys in the room that made him comfortable and feel like he belongs here right away, guys like Manny, Tati, Nelson Cruz, Rougned Odor. I really feel like he’s felt at home here, maybe as opposed to some of the other places where he’s fighting for his job every single day, every single at-bat.”
Interestingly, it’s not just the offense he’s provided that’s given the Padres a boost. Defensively, Sanchez is playing better than he ever has.
“He’s caught games like (Wednesday) where they don’t score until the 8th inning,” says Melvin, a former catcher himself. “He’s thrown some guys out stealing, which had been a problem for us. He’s been just as good defensively as he has been offensively.”
Padres catchers Austin Nola, Brett Sullivan, and Luis Campusano combined to allow 43 stolen bases and throw out just five runners. Sanchez has already cut down two of the three guys who’ve dared to run on him. Beyond that, according to Baseball Savant, his pitch framing and ability to block balls in the dirt have both improved in San Diego, which is somewhat remarkable considering he’s working with a pitching staff he’s never caught before.
It’s supposed to take a while for pitchers and catchers to get on the same page. The catcher has to know how the pitcher likes to attack hitters and the pitcher needs to have complete trust in the guy with the mask to think along with him.
Consider Michael Wacha a believer. The veteran righty worked with Sanchez for the first time against the Cubs on a Friday night and says he was calling most of the pitches because his new catcher had just arrived four days prior. Wacha walked a season-high five hitters that night in 4.2 innings, throwing 102 pitches in the process.
Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon. Wacha tossed 6.0 shutout innings and walked just one while needing a mere 82 pitches. In the four days between starts the two got to know each other a little bit and Sanchez’s understanding of his starter’s arsenal was on another level.
“Probably one of the hardest things to do is jump in mid-season as a catcher and trying to learn 15 different pitchers,” says Wacha, who spent nearly a decade with future Hall of Fame backstop Yadier Molina in St. Louis. “(Wednesday) was great. Very few shakeoffs, we had a plan going into it and we were able to execute it. I’ve been really impressed with how he’s been going about it. It’s been fun to watch.”
Familiarity can also come from being on opposite sides of a rivalry. Blake Snell spent five years in the same division as Sanchez. That was enough to get them immediately on the same wavelength.
“We clicked really quickly,” says Snell. “I enjoy throwing to him, I enjoy our conversations, really a lot of the communication has been really good.”
Snell’s first time throwing to Sanchez was his best outing of the season with 6.0 shutout innings, only two hits allowed and eight strikeouts.
“That’s one thing I kept laughing about in the dugout. I was like, we’d be really good together, especially with how well he hits me,” says Snell, who has coughed up his fair share of Sanchez’s homers. “He sees my pitches really well and for him to be behind the plate is very comforting. I’ve seen him hit five off of me so I prefer it to be on my team.”
With Sanchez behind the plate the Padres have tossed two shutouts and pitched to a 1.89 ERA. He just might have landed in the right place at the right time to resurrect his career and help save San Diego’s season.
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