TORONTO — Giancarlo Stanton, the NL MVP of a year ago, was the big new attraction to the Yankees’ spring training batting-practice sessions. Aaron Judge was the AL Rookie of the Year. And then there was Gary Sanchez to fill out the group of hitters that was must-see BP in the days before the exhibition season kicked off.
Nothing that happened in spring training changed minds in the Yankees’ organization: Sanchez was the Yankees’ most complete hitter.
So, the fact the All-Star catcher is hitting .202 after going 1-for-4 in Tuesday night’s 7-2 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre was very surprising. Yet, that the Yankees are locked into a tight battle with the Red Sox for the best record in baseball without Sanchez’s bat being alive might be more surprising.
On May 8, Sanchez’s average was .193, but the season was six weeks old. And Sanchez did improve across the following 12 games, when he went 12-for-33 (.364) with three homers, five RBIs, a .500 on-base percentage and a 1.227 OPS.
Then?
From May 26 to June 4 (seven games), the Yankees’ best hitter went 1-for-27 (.037) with a .161 on-base percentage and a .198 OPS. Hence the paltry average for Sanchez, who started the season with a .283 career average in 177 big-league games.
Since homering in his final two at-bats on May 19, Sanchez is homer-less in 41 at-bats.
“Hitting is a fickle thing. He has the same approach and the same style,’’ said a scout who recently followed the Yankees. “I haven’t seen anything that is different.’’
Marcus Thames has detected a possible reason for the woes.
“The swing might be a little bit bigger,’’ the hitting coach said. “You look on the board and see .200, there is a human element in there, too. I told him, ‘Don’t chase hits, chase quality at-bats.’ ’’


