Yankees Gary Sanchez Keeps Raking in the Hardware
New York Yankees rookie catcher Gary Sanchez has been named American League Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month for August.
Just one month into his young MLB career and Gary Sanchez is already running out of room on his mantle. Fresh off back to back American League Player of the Week awards, the Yankees rookie catcher has been honored by the league as both its best rookie and best overall player for the month of August 2016.
He didn’t make the choice all that difficult for them, hitting .389/.458/.832 (238 wRC+) while becoming the quickest player in baseball history to reach 11 home runs to begin their career.
In addition, he racked up 37 hits, 20 runs scored, 21 RBI, nine doubles, and a stolen base for good measure in 107 plate appearances. He had a hit in 21 of his 24 games played for the month, as well as an incredible 10 multi-hit games in that span.
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Sanchez is no one-dimensional slugger either. He has earned rave reviews from fans, coaches, teammates, and opponenets for his defense, especially his incredible arm behind the plate. He’s thrown out eight of 19 potential base thieves coming into Saturday night, a 42% caught stealing rate. The 23-year-old has worked extremely hard to turn himself into a complete player over the last two seasons.
The fact that Yankees manager Joe Girardi handed him the starting catcher job early in his first month in the big leagues spoke volumes about the team’s faith in him. It’s easy to forget that he is putting on this offensive performance while learning a whole new pitching staff.
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The last New York Yankees player to take home AL Player of the Month honors was Curtis Granderson back in August of 2011. To find the last Yankee to win the Rookie of the Month award, you have to go back to Robinson Cano in September of 2005.
Amazingly, he is actually the first Yankee catcher to ever win either award.
Even if he doesn’t continue to hit like Barry Bonds the rest of the year, Sanchez has established himself as a indispensible member of this team going forward. The long-anticipated top prospect has finally arrived, and wasted no time in making a name for himself in the major leagues.