4 years agoNew York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez crushed a 104.5 mph fly ball with a .880 xBA that landed in the glove of outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in a pinch-hit appearance on Thursday, bringing Sanchez’s batting average down to a paltry .142 for the season. Sanchez’s 36% strikeout rate pops out as a major issue for the catcher at the plate this season, but his swinging-strike rate is up only one point from last season at 14%, and his called-strike rate is flat at 18.7%. Arguably more concerning, then, is Sanchez’s worsened contact quality. Sanchez’s .435 xwOBAcon is down nearly 60 points from last season’s mark and 31 points from his career average, and although Sanchez’s high strikeout rate might suggest that his contact has come on less desirable pitches, the opposite has in fact been true. Indeed, the percentage of Sanchez’s balls in play that have come on pitches in the strike zone is up seven points from last season at 77%, a change that -- with no change in his underlying contact quality -- would have resulted in a 0.013 increase in his xwOBAcon. Even with the contact quality decline built-in, Sanchez’s plate discipline and contact skills explain less than one-third of his decline in xwOBAcon. It’s still a fairly small sample, but fantasy managers should monitor more than just Sanchez’s strikeout rate going into next season as a result.--Sam Chinitz
Source: Baseball Savant