Soft-spoken Gary Sanchez lets his bat do the talking for Yankees

TAMPA — Gary Sanchez nods hello and offers his giant hand in a polite but careful way.

You expect this. You have been told that the man responsible for one of the splashiest rookie debuts in the history of baseball doesn’t like the limelight, that he’s painfully shy. You have been told he learned to speak English fluently to communicate with teammates, but uses an interpreter with the media in order to prevent any misunderstandings. You enter a conversation with Sanchez and quickly get a feeling that he is sizing you up, question by question, in the same way that he sizes up pitchers, pitch by pitch.

And then, something flips. After several queries about fame and pressure and what it is like to be considered the cornerstone of the Yankees rebuild, you ask him about being a parent. Sanchez’ voice softens, he looks you in the eye and a smile breaks around the corner of his mouth as he talks about Sara, his energetic 2-year-old daughter with the black curly ringlets.

“Being a father is something that changes me every day,” Sanchez, 24, says. “When my wife was pregnant and I learned I was going to have a kid, it was like a light switch went off. At that moment, I decided I have to be the best, so I can provide a really good life for my daughter and wife.”

Is it too simplistic to say that we would have never seen the summer of Sanchez if the Yankees catcher hadn’t become a father? Is it too tidy to attribute to a toddler Sanchez’ transformation from a immature prospect with amazing potential to a player whom the Yankees believe will be a mainstay both behind the plate and in the middle of their lineup for years to come?

Maybe. And maybe not. Because to fully understand the magnitude of what Sanchez did last year — to fully appreciate how he crushed 20 homers and finished runner-up to Detroit’s Michael Fulmer for American League rookie of the year despite playing for less than two months and totaling only 229 plate appearances — one has to understand just how challenging, and at times lonely, his seven-year journey to Yankee Stadium has been.

“He’s not only grown as a player, he’s grown as a person,” says first base coach Tony Pena, who is close to Sanchez. “I’ve seen it. I think the truth is it started happening right when he got the baby. It gave him something to think about. It helped him tremendously. I know it. Family is very important.”

It is impossible to overstate the culture shock many young players from the Dominican Republic encounter when they come to the United States, says Pena, who was one of the earlier Dominicans to play in the majors. Much has been written about the poverty, or as Sanchez’ interpreter Marlon Abreu delicately puts it “lack of resources”, that the average Dominican player experiences growing up as compared to the average American player. Yet, Sanchez paints a picture of an almost idyllic childhood devoted to the twin totems of family and baseball.

“I didn’t have a new glove or brand new bat, but whatever I had I was happy and played with a lot of passion,” Sanchez says.

Sanchez grew up in a small community in Santo Domingo called La Victoria. His parents separated when he was young, and he and his three brothers and sister were raised by his grandmother, Agustina Pena, while his mother worked long hours as a nurse. Sanchez said he and his brothers played baseball every moment they could, using a broomstick as a bat and whatever they could find, including an old decapitated doll head, as a ball.

“You spend the whole day playing in the street, different kinds of games related to baseball,” he says. “You pitch, you hit, you run back and forth. This is what a typical childhood is in the Dominican Republic. Of course, we have a good time doing it.”

As the story goes, Sanchez’ life changed one afternoon at the Yankees training facility in Boca Chica. Sanchez, then 15, was working out with a few other young players. Ross Newman, then the head of the Yankees farm system, challenged the boys to hit a home run to right field, center and then left. It took Sanchez just four swings. A call was placed and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman got on a flight to Santo Domingo.

“I had been hearing about him for a year and half,” Cashman says. “He was going to cost $3 million, so I flew down to put my eyeballs on him. At that level, I wanted to see it first hand. When I got there, I saw a kid that was 15 turning 16, and he looked like a college junior. You could not deny the tool package he was demonstrating.”

He may have looked like a 20-year-old, but emotionally he was a 16-year-old kid who grew up on an unpaved road and had never left his family. A week after he signed, he was sent to Tampa, a confusing city of highways and strip malls where he didn’t speak the language and didn’t like the food. Though everyone around him acted like he had just won the lottery, he began to wonder exactly what he had gotten himself into.

“It was a very tough time,” Sanchez says. “I had never been away from my family. I was really homesick. I didn’t eat much because I wasn’t used to the food. My body wasn’t performing the way I wanted. It was very tough.”

Sanchez’s struggle to adjust was far from short-lived. Though considered an incredible physical specimen, his maturity and commitment were regularly questioned.

In 2012, when he was still only a teen-ager, Sanchez was demoted from Class-A Charleston to the Yankees’ extended spring training program, after he refused to warm up a reliever because he was upset with finding himself on the bench for a second straight game. In 2014 while playing for Double-A Trenton, Sanchez was suspended for five games for violating undisclosed team rules.

“He needed time to grow up,” Pena says. “He needed time to understand this culture and what was expected from him. When you come from the Dominican Republic to the United States, its totally different. Back there it’s all family and they guide you.”

Cashman admits that there were times when doubts crept in, times when he wondered if it was time to cut bait.

“You never know,” Cashman says. “Throughout the system, his tool package was undeniable. He always had a lot of trade offers for him. Certain clubs were really aggressive.

“But I surround myself with a lot of really smart people. And they were telling me, “This is a guy you do not trade. You gotta wait on it. This is a cornerstone type of player and it if all clicks, it’s going to be special.’ So that’s what we did.’’

It’s hard to think of anything more special than what Sanchez did last August and September. In a few short weeks, Sanchez managed to take the job of a seven-time All-Star catcher who was in the third year of an $85 million contract. And what’s more, he did it in such a convincing way that even the guy who lost his job, Brian McCann, couldn’t be upset about it.

“He was the best player in baseball,” says McCann, who is now starting for the Astros. “It was nice to see that they gave him time in the minor leagues and gave him time to develop. When it was his time, he was ready. He took his opportunity and ran with it.”

Yankees manager Joe Girardi recalls that there were times last season August — times when Sanchez was compiling an MLB record 20 home runs in his first 51 games — that he almost had to pinch himself.

“In a way, you kinda stand back in awe,” Girardi says. “Still. I’m watching him in spring training games and it’s amazing how consistently hard he hits the ball.”

Girardi, a former catcher himself, said while his offense has gotten the most attention, Sanchez just changes the game when he is behind the plate.

“He changes the running game. He completely changes it,” Girardi said. “Most people on certain pitches, you’re just going to take off. They’re hesitant now. So it’s really fun to watch. Offensively and defensively he understands what people are trying to do and what needs to be successful to that pitcher. He’s able to figure out different ways to get hitters out. He throws as well as anyone I’ve ever seen. He blocks, he frames. There’s nothing this kid can’t do at a really high level.”

Girardi includes in that list being a leader, one of the primary faces of the Yankees for years to come. He said one of the things that impresses him the most about Sanchez is the way he intuits what his pitchers need. Despite having played in only 55 major league games, Sanchez is not afraid to give his pitchers a pep talk or even tell them something they don’t want to hear.

“This kid is, he’s special. He’s going to be a leader. People look up to him already,” Girardi says. “I’ll watch him walk to the mount, and it doesn’t matter who it is, he’ll put his arm around the pitcher and I’m thinking wow. He just does it.”

Pitcher CC Sabathia says it isn’t easy for a young player to come in and step into a leadership role, but Sanchez has all the tools to do it.

“No matter how old you are, if you are going to be a catcher you have to be a leader,” Sabathia says. “I think he’s ready for that role. I think he’s studied for it. Guys are very comfortable throwing to him. His arm is incredible, probably the best in the league. You feel comfortable with him back there. It changes everything. For a pitcher you don’t have to be so quick. He’s not a fluke He’s going to be here for a long time and be a great catcher.”

Though there are those who wonder if Sanchez has the personality to deal with the intense public attention that come with being a leader in New York, both Girardi and Cashman believe he does.

“He’s a quiet, shy person? So what?” Cashman says. “He’s the leader of our pitching staff already. He takes charge. There’s no deficiencies in his ability to lead just because he’s quiet. He’s the strong silent type if that makes sense. And, to be honest with you, whatever he’s going to be he’s going to be.

“Everyone else will adjust around it.”

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.