Bovada Las Vegas gave Gary Sanchez the 8th best odds of winning MVP this season
Gary Sanchez, who finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting last season after playing in only 53 games, was given the 8th best odds by Bovada Las Vegas of winning the American League MVP this season. They obviously think that last season was not a fluke and he will have a very successful season in 2017.
Sanchez decided not to play in the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic after originally saying that he would. This makes sense because he is going into his first season as the everyday catcher. His presence in all of spring training gives him the time needed to get on the same page with all of the starting pitchers and relief pitchers.
“I was going to be on the team,” Sanchez said. “This last week, I spoke to my family, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt I had to be in spring training for the full spring training to get ready for the season. I’ve only been in the big leagues for two months, and I know it went well, but there’s still a lot I have to do preparation-wise to be able to catch for a whole season for the first time.”
Sanchez took a very mature approach to making the decision not to play for the D.R. He also probably realized that he will be able to do so in four years when he is an established player. In spring training, the 24-year-old has showed off his strong and accurate arm by throwing out many runners and has hit .361 in 36 at-bats with four homers, 13 RBI and even adding one steal.
Last season, after being called up from Triple-A in the beginning of August and becoming the everyday catcher, Sanchez had a .299 average (60–201) with 20 homers, 34 run scored, 42 RBI, a .376 on-base percentage and a .657 slugging percentage. He showed ability to hit pitches in many different parts of the strike zone and was able to hit offspeed pitches.
The only Yankee on offense who had a higher Wins Above Replacement (WAR) than Sanchez’s 3.0 was Brett Gardner’s 3.4. His 3.2 Fangraphs WAR made him the 5th most valuable catcher even though he was only in the majors for two months.
Sanchez was signed by the Yankees out of the D.R. in 2009 and was a highly rated prospect going back to the 2011 season (Yankees’ #4 prospect after 2011 season) but had some character issues a few years ago. He credits the birth of his daughter on his transformation from a player who was “going through the motions” to one who is praised for his work ethic. Also, out of losing out on the back-up catcher position in spring training last season, he was sent to Triple-A and was able to greatly improve his defense and throwing accuracy.
Sanchez’s 20 homers were tied for the third most on the team even though he played in less than one third of the season. On August 16, Sanchez had his first of three two-homer games. On August 22, he was named AL Player of the Week after hitting four homers and recording a .523 average. The Kraken became the first player in MLB history with 11 homers and 31 hits in his first 23 career games.
On September 3, he was named AL Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month, and he became the first Yankee catcher to win either award. He was the first Yankee to be named Player of the Month since Curtis Granderson August 2011.
On September 21, the 6'2", 230 pound slugger hit his 18th and 19th homers in his 45th game, which made him the fastest player to reach 19 homers in the modern era.
He will obviously not be able to continue to hit homers at the rate he did last season, but he does project to be a productive №3 hitter in the lineup. MLB.COM predicts that he will have a .269 average with 27 homers and 81 RBI this season. It seems like his average could be a bit higher based on his quality .376 on-base percentage from last season.
Sanchez will have to prove that he can make adjustments to pitchers as they will have more of a scouting report on him now. An aspect of his game that he will have to improve a little this season is his production against lefties as he hit only .189 (10–53).
Sanchez impressively posted a .292 average with .375 slugging percentage against 141 curve balls, but he only had a .227 average after seeing 99 changeups. He had a .225 average in September, which makes sense because he obviously could not have maintained his .389 average from August.
These are the 10 players with the best odds of winning MVP, according to Bovada:
Mike Trout: 5/4
Mookie Betts: 5/1
Jose Altuve: 10/1
Miguel Cabrera: 12/1
Josh Donaldson: 14/1
Manny Machado: 14/1
Carlos Correa: 16/1
Sanchez: 18/1
Robinson Cano: 20/1
Nelson Cruz: 33/1
The players with the least amount of MLB experience besides Sanchez are Betts, who is entering his fourth season, and Correa, who is entering his third season. Correa was the Rookie of the Year in 2015 and had 20 homers, 96 RBI and a .274 average and Betts finished 2nd in MVP voting last season after hitting 31 homers, driving in 113 runs and stealing 26 bases.
It’s not likely that Sanchez will win MVP this season but if he does actually finish 8th or even in the top 15 that will mean sophomore slump and will have found a way to make adjustments throughout the season to stay consistently productive. If he can do so he should be able to help the Yankees stay in contention for the playoffs for the whole season.
