We've become so smitten with Aaron Judge and, now, with his new muscular slugger comrade, Giancarlo Stanton, making them the modern iteration of the M&M Boys, we've forgotten who kickstarted this Yankees revival.
Indeed, the first Baby Bomber of the group doesn't play center field or any of the glamour positions on the diamond, only the most important one.
Gary Sanchez, who landed like a bomb in the Bronx, bashing homers of Ruthian contours, must be wondering what happened to his slice of the bold ink, thinking, 'Hey, I'm over here, gang!' Just 18 months ago, Sanchez was the talk of the town. In a mere 53 games, he swatted 60 base hits and clubbed 24 home runs, almost one every eight at-bat and finished a whisker under .300 (.299).
If we go pro rata, Sanchez was looking at 72 homers, 180 hits, 128 RBI over his first full season. Not to say he would have nudged past those numbers but it speaks to how explosive Sanchez was from the moment he donned the pinstripes.
Now Sanchez is the forgotten cousin at the family dinner, from host to guest to the plus-one at a party. Judge was so singularly good his rookie season the rest of the club got lost -- literally and figuratively -- in his epic shadow. That's what 52 homers (most ever by a rookie) and 114 RBIs will do for you and to the others. Then you add the NL MVP and his 59 homers, and you've got a new duo when a trio is in order.
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Not that the more muted Baby Bomber is clamoring for the ink or attention. But even in the wake of Judge's otherworldly season, Sanchez was sublime. In just 122 games, he clubbed 33 homers, drove in 80 runs and scored 79 runs. Not quite the comic-book contours of his hulking teammate, but on almost every other team, Sanchez would be the young face of the franchise, or at least splashed across the team program.
You'd hardly know Sanchez was an All-Star in 2017. Or that he won the Silver Slugger award at catcher. Or that he was second in the AL in assists (60) by a catcher, or fifth in tossing out would-be base stealers (23) and caught-stealing percentage (38 percent). Yes, he was first in passed balls, with 16, but no one is flawless. Baseball-Reference.com projects Sanchez to bat .280 with 31 homers and 80 RBIs this season, rather modest numbers if he's healthy and feasts off the pitches not tossed to Stanton and Judge.
Maybe Sanchez isn't Judge or Stanton, but being Gary Sanchez is pretty darn good. He's 25, already an established star, perhaps the best hitting catcher in the game (at least for power), with many years of fine baseball before him. And it's not a reach to say Sanchez should only get better, particularly with all the lumber in the Yankees' lineup. Adding Stanton doesn't just protect Judge (or the reverse), but it ripples down the batting order.
Few sports try to hold on to the old-world, team-first ethos like baseball. Even the Yankees. Well, especially the Yankees, virtual relics in how they regard their players, from facial hair to the lack of last names on the back of their jerseys.
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They mysteriously fired manager Joe Girardi despite their rather charmed and quite unexpected run to the ALCS last autumn. Word is they didn't feel that Girardi evolved with the times, didn't connect to the more tender side of the modern athlete. Maybe we can't see their names, but Aaron Boone was hired to connect with players deep under their numbers. There are many more variables on the crosstown Mets, who lately have been equal parts mystery and injury. You can count on the Yankees to win at least 90 games, compete for a pennant, if not more. And while you don't hear much about him these days, you might be able to count on Sanchez as much, if not more, than any Yankee on the diamond.
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