Baseball America posted their July 16th edition of the Prospect Hot Sheet, and Yankee phenom Gary Sanchez made an appearance. Here’s what they said:
The Scoop: While a lot of the top 17-year-olds in the U.S. are playing travel ball before their senior season begins, Sanchez is busy manhandling pitchers several years older than him in the Gulf Coast League. Hitting .378/.461/.622 with four home runs in 20 games, Sanchez is showing why the Yankees signed him last July 2 for $3 million, making him the No. 2 international amateur signing bonus last year behind Twins third baseman Miguel Sano.
Sanchez has shown skills advanced beyond his age when he steps into the batter’s box, hitting for average and for power while showing a solid approach. Behind the plate has been a different story. Sanchez’s receiving has never been a strength, and with a league-high 12 passed balls and six errors in 13 games at catcher, he still has plenty of work to do to clean up his defense. Sanchez has a strong arm, but teams have stolen more bases on him than any other catcher in the GCL with 28 in 35 attempts for an 80 percent success rate.
We’ve all heard about his bat, but this is the first time I’ve seen us get a read on his defense in game situations. I had no idea Sanchez’s glove was that far behind his bat, scouting reports after he was signed said his receiving shouldn’t be an issue. Right now he looks like another Montero, but he has more athleticism and a better body type than Jesus, so the expectation is that he will be able to clean up his receiving skills and work these things out. He’s still just 17 and was very raw when signed, so this is nothing unusual or unexpected in a player’s development.
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7 Responses to Gary Sanchez hits the hot sheet
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TIQ IQ
I wouldn’t trust the passed ball numbers on Gary Sanchez. You can’t really see the plate well where the official scorekeeper sits, so it’s tough to judge if it’s a passed ball or a wild pitch. It’s curious that almost all of the PB charged to him have come at home.
It seems the only “scouting” Baseball America has done is look at his statistics. Bravo, that officially makes me a scout as well.
Hey Andy. You’d get to see him live more than the rest of us, so I have to take your word for it. But as I said, I’m not worried about it either way.
This is an aggressive pick…
It’s the Hot Sheet, not player ranking.
Passed balls don’t scare me, easily corrected with desire and better technique if you have the athleticism.He’s young enough to end up replacing Tex when he’s 25 anyway, if the catching doesn’t work out and Romine and Murphy are the catchers.Montero’s disadvantage there is timing.
If he’s just 17, I don’t know how he could have top catching skills anyway.
Yeah, his defense being raw at this age is no big deal. He was signed for his bat, and his pop times (how fast he throws to 2nd) have been good.
Don’t forget that he’s catching pitchers who have yet to learn how to hold runners on as well.
Gary Sanchez is the next big thing, just wait and see.