Gary Sanchez's agent hopeful for the All-Star's MLB future: "Gary was able to finally and completely shake off the emotional baggage"
Gary Sanchez's agent Francisco Marquez recently talked up the former New York Yankees catcher and said that his past experience with the team would not affect his future in any way.
Sanchez made a good start to his MLB career with the Yankees. He was selected to the All-Star team in 2017 and 2019 but went through spells of poor form. Sanchez was careless behind the plate and had plenty of strikeouts to his name.
He was booed by Yankees fans and was dropped entirely by the team's management for the 2020 playoffs. The Santo Domingo native was also benched for the Wild Card game in 2021.
The Yankees eventually traded the 30-year-old catcher to the Minnesota Twins. He spent the 2022 season with the Twins and is currently a free agent after completing his one-year contract.
During the Winter Meetings on December 13, Sanchez's agent Francisco Martinez asserted his client's potential while talking to The Athletic. He was sure that Gary Sanchez's stint with the Twins had helped him shake off all the negativities of his time at the Yankees.
“The most important aspect of the 2022 season was that at the end of the season Gary was able to finally and completely shake off the emotional baggage he had acquired during his previous two seasons with the Yankees,” Marquez said.
"Whoever gets Gary this offseason will benefit from the rebirth of the Kraken," he added.
Gary Sanchez's agent blames Yankees for 'emotional baggage' as catcher looks for new team trib.al/UahA9IG https://t.co/deCFfaKkkU
The Yankees traded Gary Sanchez, along with Gio Urshela, for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt. However, Sanchez had a sub-par 2022 season playing for the Twins, hitting .205 with 16 home runs and .659 OPS in 128 games, with the last two stats being the worst of his full-season turnouts.
Francisco Martinez compares Gary Sanchez's 2022 stats to other star players
Martinez also spoke highly of his client, reasoning that Gary Sanchez's 2022 stats could be compared to other catchers like the St. Louis Cardinals' Wilson Contreras and the Boston Red Sox's Christian Vasquez.
"[Sanchez’s]exit velocities last season compared well to those of [Willson] Contreras and [Christian] Vázquez, and that his expected slugging percentage and weighted on-base average were significantly higher than his actual numbers,” Francisco was quoted saying.
But if an honest assessment is made, Sanchez's stats have kept falling over the years. After a promising 2015-2017, where he showed that he would be an above-average player, he has only produced seasons with high strikeout levels and diminishing power.
So Gary Sanchez's time at the Twins isn't exactly a rebirth. His stats suggest he was ranked 84th in the majors among all batters with at least 10 plate appearances for his slugging percentage and his barrel rate was 43rd overall.