Home Run Derby? Red-hot Gary Sanchez has no interest in messing with a good thing

BOSTON — Put Gary Sanchez down as a firm "no" for this year’s Home Run Derby.

The Yankees catcher, swinging the hottest bat on the club by far of late, said he is not interested in participating in the event.

"I had a really good time the first time I went, but after the first round, I was tired," Sanchez said Thursday through his interpreter. "I don’t want to do that right now."

Sanchez spoke late Thursday afternoon after going 2-for-3, including a three-run homer, in the Yankees’ 8-1 victory over the Royals.

He entered Friday night’s game against the Red Sox with a .338/.410/.743 slash line, eight homers and 18 RBIs in his last 23 games. That brought Sanchez’s overall slash line to .240/.344/.503. He has 13 homers — tied with Giancarlo Stanton for second-most on the team behind Aaron Judge’s 16 — and an .847 OPS.

It has been quite a stretch for Sanchez to even get himself in a position to be asked about the Derby. The notion would have been considered laughable a month ago; on May 25, he was hitting .174 with a .642 OPS.

Sanchez believes he’s found something in his swing — with the biggest in-season adjustment the elimination of the big leg kick that was a part of his swing last season and into his disappointing start to 2021 — and doesn’t want to take any chances of the Derby disrupting that.

"When you go into the competition, I believe it’s like three minutes of swinging at 100%. You get tired," Sanchez said. "That’s the reason why I don’t have any interest in doing it right now."

The fatigue element referenced by Sanchez has been talked about by various hitters almost as long as the competition has been around.

Judge, of course, won a classic Derby in 2017, the only one Sanchez has taken part in (Sanchez upset Stanton, then of the Marlins and the defending champion, in the first round that year).

"It was a blast. I enjoyed every minute of it," Judge said minutes after the ’17 event ended at Marlins Park.

Yet the 2017 Derby remains the only one Judge has been in, and it seems as if it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Judge, who is very likely to be in the American League starting lineup in next month’s All-Star Game in Denver, said last week that he isn’t interested in this year’s Derby. He repeated something he said in spring training 2019: Only a Derby in New York would get him to say yes.

"The only thing that will make me want to participate would be if the All-Star Game would ever be in New York City again," Judge said in March 2019.

Judge, as no Yankees fan needs reminding, slumped horribly after the ’17 Derby, a nearly seven-week stretch that probably cost him the AL MVP award (won by Houston’s Jose Altuve).

Judge had a .176/.337/.340 slash line with seven homers and 17 RBIs in his first 46 games after the All-Star break i before recovering, hitting 15 homers, driving in 31 runs and posting a .329/.487/.951 slash line in his final 25 games. At the time, Judge said it was simply a slump, but in March 2019, he acknowledged injuring his shoulder during Derby BP.

"I don’t want to get hurt again doing a Derby," Judge said.

Stanton and Luke Voit, who led the majors in homers last season with 22, are the other Yankees who would be considered for the event. But given that both are coming off stints on the injured list, their participation this year is unlikely.

"Total personal decision," Aaron Boone said Friday, speaking generally of his philosophy when it comes to his players and the Derby. "I would support them if they wanted to be in it and certainly support them not wanting to be in it."