{"id":270015,"date":"2021-06-09T09:32:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T06:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/yankees-gary-sanchez-showing-grit-and-starting-to-hit\/"},"modified":"2021-06-09T09:32:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T06:32:17","slug":"yankees-gary-sanchez-showing-grit-and-starting-to-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/yankees-gary-sanchez-showing-grit-and-starting-to-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"#Yankees’ Gary Sanchez showing grit and starting to hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Yankees’ Gary Sanchez showing grit and starting to hit<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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When you\u2019ve fallen into a pit, you must permit yourself to acknowledge each small step out of it. So it was that the Yankees exhaled just a little upon defeating their old punching bags the Twins Tuesday night, 8-4 at Target Field, to end a four-game<\/a> losing streak and put the brakes on a brutal 3-10 stretch.<\/p>\n

No one on this roster resided in a deeper pit than Gary Sanchez. And though we\u2019ve seen far too much to suggest that he\u2019s fully beyond his legendary woes, give the young man some credit.<\/p>\n

He has endured the sort of scrutiny and criticism that few professional athletes have faced. And he\u2019s still standing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many things you think about when you\u2019re struggling and things are not working out,\u201d Sanchez said after the game through an interpreter, \u201cbut at the same time, you understand that the only way out is to continue to work. That\u2019s what I focused on, and I\u2019m glad things are working out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The catcher navigated a competitive Twins lineup with starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who proclaimed afterward of his batterymate, \u201cThat\u2019s my guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez also singled and came around to score the (temporary) lead run in the sixth inning, and in the ninth, with the Yankees holding a two-run lead, he crushed a two-run homer off Twins rookie reliever Griffin Jax, souring his major-league debut and giving the surely anxious Yankees a cushion.<\/p>\n

\"Gary
Gary Sanchez celebrates with Gio Urshela after belting a two-run homer in the ninth inning of the Yankees\u2019 8-4 win over the Twins. <\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sanchez now boasts a .739 OPS, and if that doesn\u2019t put him in the same conversation as Mike Trout or his longtime teammate Aaron Judge, it smells a hell of a lot better than the .618 he posted last season, when he struggled so badly on both sides of the ball during the COVID-shortened schedule that some pundits, including yours truly, called for the Yankees to non-tender him and move on.<\/p>\n

Which still might prove to be the proper counsel. Let\u2019s not close this file. Yet given how Sanchez started this season, bottoming out at .617 (one point lower than last year!) on April 26, give the 28-year-old some credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never wavered with his confidence,\u201d Aaron Boone said of Sanchez. \u201cHis work has been excellent on both sides of the ball. He\u2019s got a long way to go still, as a lot of us do, to get to where we need to go. But without question, the last few weeks, it\u2019s been more consistency all around for Gary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said for the last three years, I think Gary\u2019s one of the most talented right-handed hitters in the game, and I know that last year obviously didn\u2019t go his way, and then the results early on this year may not have been exactly what he\u2019s looking for,\u201d said Brett Gardner, who as a Yankee since 1951 (actually 2008) knows quite well what it\u2019s like to stumble into a pinstrip<\/a>ed pit. \u201cBut he\u2019s very, very, very talented on both sides of the ball, and he\u2019s obviously a big part of our team. He\u2019s a guy that, when he gets going and he\u2019s ready to play, he can carry your team. We\u2019ve seen it before in the past. I see no reason to believe that he can\u2019t continue to do that moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n