January 20, 2021

New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez has never had trouble hitting the ball out of the ballpark. In his 421-game career, he has homered at a rate that would make him a 44-homer hitter over 162 games. The first problem is that he has never been able to stay on the field for anything close to a full season, topping out at 122 games played in 2017 and reaching 100 games only twice in his five-year career. This is not only due to injury, but also due to his lackluster defense. We are seeing more and more ace pitchers choose a personal catcher, and that has already begun hurting Sanchez's playing time. Sanchez also appears as a designated hitter at times to counter some of his defensive shortcomings, but it is also true that he has a long list of injuries on his resume. The second problem is that he has become a real crater in batting average, posting a .200 batting average over his last three seasons (998 plate appearances). Now we are left with a guy that will hit home runs while he is in the lineup, but he offers almost nothing else. The good news is that his draft stock has fallen to match the expected production; he is no longer even being drafted as a top-10 backstop. That makes him a fine catcher to to add late in your drafts, but the days of fantasy glory for Sanchez could be long gone, especially if he becomes more of a platoon type.--Jon Anderson