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When the Minnesota Twins acquired Sanchez in exchange for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, much was immediately made about the former top prospects’ struggles. He’s certainly been bad behind the dish, and he hasn’t been much good in the box of late either. However, not long ago, there was a time that he was a force to be reckoned with. Finding that again will be the key for the Twins.
Not unlike Sanchez, Sonny Gray was also recently acquired by the Twins. Also, similar to Sanchez, a change of scenery was a great prescription for his career as well. New York initially dealt for Gray because he owned a 3.45 ERA across his five years in the Majors. With Oakland, Gray had established himself as a frontline starter while picking up an All-Star nod and nearly winning a Cy Young.
Then he got to New York.
The first 11 starts resulted in a workable 3.72 ERA, but the walks hit a career-worst rate, and so did the home runs. The Yankees went just 4-7 in his 11 starts, and it was clear the Cracker Jack box that is Yankee Stadium was doing Gray no favors. The following season, 2018, things got even worse. Gray posted a 4.90 ERA, and there was plenty of media pressure. It was more than clear things weren’t working out.
Fast forward to 2019 after signing with the Cincinnati Reds, Gray was once again back to his dominant self. A 2.87 ERA was nearly a career-best, and his 10.5 K/9 represented the first time he’d averaged double-digits during his career. Despite Great American Ballpark being a hitter’s paradise, Gray dropped the HR/9 back below 1.0 to 0.9 before suppressing it further to 0.6 in 2020. Gray’s 2021 wasn’t as great. He was above the 4.00 ERA mark again and did give up too many homers, but it’s still a smashing success to see the 3.49 ERA across 68 starts with Cincinnati.
I’d imagine a few tweaks were made along the way by a new staff, but it’s hard not to note that a guy who was once good with Oakland was good again when escaping New York.
Sanchez has experienced a similar career path. After being a highly-touted prospect, he came out to the tune of a .923 OPS and 53 homers across his first 175 games. He struggled in 2018 but then rebounded with a. .841 OPS in 2019. Since 2020 however, Sanchez has played in 166 games for the Yankees and posted just a .698 OPS. He was benched regularly for Kyle Higashioka, and the media had a field day with his defensive woes. While no longer a kid at 29-years-old, I can’t imagine that didn’t weigh on him.
Coming to Minnesota, Sanchez gets to settle in with a group he knows well. Latin players are prevalent all over the Twins roster, and there are long-established friendships with Miguel Sano and Jorge Polanco. Rocco Baldelli and his staff will look to make inroads with their new backstop, but it could be the relationships Sanchez has established from earlier in life that help acclimate him most quickly to his new home.
I don’t know that we’ll ever see Sanchez receive MVP votes again or capture a Silver Slugger, but I think there’s a better case than not to bank on him performing better than he did the last few years in New York. What are your thoughts? Does a change of scenery help a person? Is the New York media that damaging?
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