After another impressive win by the New York Yankees against the defending champions Kansas City Royals on Thursday night, Railraiders beat writer, Shane Bennigan, has some much needed good news. One of the Yankees top prospects, Gary Sanchez, is being called up to the Bronx.
There’s been a push by Yankees fans to have their organization bring up some of their talented young players for some time now, and Sanchez will certainly add some extra eyes to the game if and when he bats against the Chicago White Sox this weekend.
The Yankees backup catcher, Austin Romine, has been playing well enough, so Sanchez may not be staying in the big leagues for an extended period of time. Plus, Romine has no remaining minor league options. The White Sox plan to throw a couple of lefties at New York in Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, so having another right-handed bat is definitely needed. Jack Curry of the YES Network believed it would be Rob Refsnyder who might get the call, mainly due to his sixteen-game hitting streak in Scranton, but it appears that the Yankees are more comfortable going with Sanchez instead.
It really doesn’t matter which prospect the Yankees called up among Refsnyder, Sanchez, or Aaron Judge, when surely all of them will see Major League action at some point during the season. In fact, all three have been playing well, and all of them certainly have very bright futures.
Sanchez has been red hot of lately. He’s on a nine-game hitting streak with three homers in his past eight games. He also had two more hits Thursday night. The Yankees lost one of their key right-handed bats to their lineup in Alex Rodriguez, and Sanchez could replace some of that right-handed power. Since the injury to Rodriguez, the Yankees have only faced one lefty.
Even though the Yankees are now carrying three catchers (including Sanchez), remember that they’re currently playing without a full-time designated hitter. Sanchez fits this Yankees roster more naturally as Rodriguez’s replacement, and not Romine’s. It’s completely possible that Sanchez could DH the next two days and then be sent right back to Triple-A on Sunday (or he could DH one day and then catch the next). At the very least, he brings some much needed right-handed pop to the Yankees lineup.
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