Can you recall the stretch run of the miserable 2016 season for the Yankees? A season of “retooling” where the Bombers failed to make the postseason. It wasn’t pretty, but for the final 53 games of the season, Gary Sanchez was the hope that started to open the championship window that is still open to this day.

The decline started to hit in 2018, and this is where Yankee fans started to lose their cool. In this injury-riddled season where he played 89 games, Sanchez was a 3-outcome player: walk, strikeout, or home run. In comparison to the rest of the league, Sanchez was in the bottom 10% of qualifying players in expected BA (statcast), and the bottom 20% in swinging misses and strikeouts. However, he was in the top 5% of players in barrel% and the top 14% in walk%. This season is very comparable to Joey Gallo as a Ranger. Although more effective, the results were similar to Sanchez. He had a .188 BA with a .689 OPS in 2018, while 43% of his batted balls were grounded, and only 35% of the balls he hit were hard contact.

In 2019, Sanchez had an up-and-down year, but actually finished with a .841 OPS for 34 home runs. However, he did spend a couple of months on the IL, as were most of the 2019 Yankees. His defense in this year was also on the negative end. His framing was part of the 10 worst in baseball, having a run value via framing at -6, and blocking -0.2 Errant pitches above average (EPAA per Baseball prospectus). All together, he allowed 6.7 runs above average from his defense, an overall nightmare behind the plate.

In 2020, his hitting was a horrifying .167 BA and .618 OPS, with more of the same on defense.

In 2021, the Yankees coaches had Gary change his catching stance onto one knee down, prompting fans to once again call Sanchez lazy. Still, Sanchez’s framing was still in the negatives, and even more dirt pitches got by him. The continued failure led to the trade where he and 3B Gio Urshela were traded to the Twins for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt after the lockout of 2022. Sanchez’s hitting dropped to a .205 BA with a .659 OPS and only 16 home runs as the Twins DH, as his defense stayed the same with the Twins. At this point, Sanchez clearly puts himself on the outside looking in for free agents.

Now he looks to get his career back on track in the minors with the Giants. With Joey Bart on the IL, the Giants rely on veteran Roberto Perez and rookie Blake Sabol, who has less than 100 professional games as a catcher. With an unclear timeline on Joey Bart’s return, Sanchez could find a spot in the bigs relatively soon if the current rookie/veteran duo does not provide any impact soon. He would make $4M if he made the majors before May.