The New York Yankees received reassuring news late last week when Gary Sanchez returned to the team to continue the rehab of his right groin strain.
It’s been just about one month since Gary Sanchez hit the disabled list but his recovery seems to be in a good place as he awaits the next step of his rehab progression with the New York Yankees.
On Friday, for the first time since getting injured, Sanchez was able to throw to the bases out of a crouch position. It was a benchmark step in the right direction for Gary who has only played in 66 games this season as a result of injuring the same groin two times.
Gary Sánchez is out hitting on the field. He's planting some dingers. Aaron Judge is behind a screen at first and seems to be telling him where to hit in in the field for his own amusement.
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) August 19, 2018
Via the New York Post’s, George A. King III, Boone was in good spirits watching the improvement of the Yankees’ backstop:
“Gary had a really good day, upped his running and he was throwing to bases. [He] looked really good, he’s on track,’’“[An] MRI showed healing up properly. I think [he is] going back to Tampa Sunday and continue to ramp up and a rehab [assignment] shortly thereafter.’’
The real test will be the rehab assignment of games Gary will embark on soon after he and the Yankees deem he is “game-ready”. The Bombers’ plan, as Boone aforementioned, is to continue his rehab in Tampa, FL where he will probably play in a few simulated games before heading out to a minor-league affiliate to finish off the assignment.
Surprisingly enough, the Yankees have gone 15-11 since July 24, the day Sanchez hit the DL. It seems like they’ve struggled more at the expense of Aaron Judge — who has yet to take dry swings with a bat due to the continuing pain in his right wrist — then Gary Sanchez, who was also struggling severely when he got hurt.
In the meantime, Austin Romine and backup Kyle Higashioka have done a tremendous job filling in for Sanchez. Romine, for catchers with the minimum of 200 plate appearances, is just eighth amongst all backstops and right behind Wilson Contreras in batting avg. (.260).
He’s been great at receiving the ball and blocking pitches in the dirt where he has only let three passed balls get by him this season. The only downfall, however, has been the running game. He has thrown out baserunners at an anemic 29 percent of the time and has allowed 33 stolen bases so far this year.
While the city-wide peanut gallery has been all over Sanchez’s back for his lack of defense, one of his bright spots as a catcher has been his strong arm and ability to throw runners out.
Nevertheless, Sanchez is still a couple weeks away from returning to the Bronx for game situations, but he remains on the right track in his rehab progression.