Yankees' manager Joe Girardi inclined to start Gary Sanchez behind the dish in playoffs
Whether the Yankees begin postseason play on Tuesday or Thursday of next week, manager Joe Girardi left little doubt that 24-year-old Gary Sanchez will be playing in catcher's gear. "This is my catcher," Girardi told the YES Network before New York's game against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Friday night. Sanchez's performance behind the plate this season has been rather mediocre. Despite having a caught stealing percentage of 38 (MLB average is 27-percent) in 103 games, he leads the majors with 16 passed balls, and his most recent gaffe came in the fifth inning of the Yankees' 9-6 loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday night. But Girardi is inclined to pair Sanchez with starting pitcher Luis Severino, who is expected to be on the bump in the AL wild-card game. “Catchers are going to have bad days. [Gary] got the crap beat out of him yesterday," Girardi told the New York Daily News. "Everyone wants to focus on the two balls that maybe got by him, but what about the 12 or 14 balls that he did block? He got hit in the neck [by a pitch that bounced], he got hit in the shoulder [by a 95-mph fastball]. “I’ve been asked the question do you catch [Austin] Romine with Severino on Tuesday? Just by chance, take a look at the ERAs with the catcher and what this kid has done with Severino. This is my catcher. I am happy with the progress that he’s made.” In 22 starts (183.2 innings), Severino's ERA happens to be 2.86 with Sanchez as his batterymate, while his ERA with Romine is 3.29 in nine starts (54.2 innings).
“[Sanchez has] been working with Severino for so many years,” Girardi told NJ.com. “He’s very familiar with him. But [Severino is] another guy who can throw 99 and miss his spot and he’s another guy that can throw a slider in the dirt. But I think because [Sanchez has] been around him so much, it makes it a bit easier. Sonny Gray ... maybe [Sanchez has] caught [him] six or seven times. [Masahiro] Tanaka, maybe he’s caught 25; CC [Sabathia], 20? It’s not a ton of starts under your belt.
“We don’t necessarily have the easiest [pitchers] to catch in the world. You’ve got guys throwing 100 [mph] and if they miss their spot by this far, it’s not always easy, and you’ve got breaking balls that are extremely sharp."
Girardi told reporters that he's proud of the progress Sanchez has made lately, although his 33 home runs and 90 RBI have made his defensive blunders slightly easier to ignore.
“I’m definitely ready for however the manager wants to use me,” Sanchez told the NYDN. “Defensively the year hasn’t gone the way I’ve wanted it to, but I also feel I’ve improved in the past couple months.”
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