Languishing in the NY spotlight can be tough to endure, as Gary Sanchez knows
Gary Sanchez #99 of the Baltimore Orioles bats during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday, June 20, 2025. Credit: Jim McIsaac
After Francisco Alvarez’s struggles deepened this week in Atlanta, the New York catcher he’s most compared to returned to the Bronx as a visiting player for the Orioles.
He’s now on his fifth team, but it still is strange to see Gary Sanchez wearing something other than pinstripes. His Yankees future was so bright all those years ago that it wasn’t hard to imagine him being an All-Star fixture for a decade, along with a cornerstone of multiple championships, like his fellow Baby Bombers of that generation.
Sanchez burst on to the scene at age 23, slamming 20 homers in 53 games and hitting .299 with a 1.032 OPS to earn runner-up honors for Rookie of the Year in 2016. He was only getting started, too. Sanchez followed that with 33 homers the next year — resulting in his first All-Star appearance, a Silver Slugger award and MVP votes (22nd place in the balloting).
Multiple injuries slowed him in 2018, but Sanchez rebounded to smash a career-high 34 homers in 106 games the next season, one that included a second All-Star berth.
Sanchez never reached those heights again, as his batting average steadily declined, but he did belt 23 home runs in 2021. And whenever the offensive production sagged, his shortcomings behind the plate — mostly difficulty with blocking balls — started dominating the headlines.
So the catcher who was the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect before his major-league debut, just like Alvarez with the Mets, streaked through the Bronx like a comet before ultimately flaming out from a six-year run that often was bumpy and boo-filled.
The Mets still view Alvarez as a future star, the high-ceiling catcher who slugged 25 homers as a 21-year-old in 2023. Languishing in the New York spotlight can be a rough thing to endure, though, and those memories remain fresh in Sanchez’s mind all these years later.
“Early on, it was going really well, right?” he said Friday through an interpreter as he stood next to the No. 99 Orioles jersey hanging in his locker. “When things are going really well, it’s awesome, the fan base here was really supportive. They’re cheering for you big-time and it’s a great atmosphere.
“But after that start, when things maybe didn’t go so well, that was different. It’s a bit more difficult. You have to start making some adjustments and trying to figure some things out. But I think over time, you learn those things, and you can learn how to manage that — especially in New York, you learn to navigate all those things.”
In Alvarez’s first season, his sky-high potential felt assured, and the allure of a power-hitting catcher is one of the most seductive skill sets in the sport.
In Sanchez’s case, his bat stayed solid — when he was healthy — but his elite throwing arm could get overshadowed by the suspect glove.
The problem for Alvarez lately is that he’s had trouble doing anything right. The offseason swing makeover has yet to pay off in any significant way and his defensive decisions have burned him, too.
It certainly didn’t help that he suffered a fractured hamate bone during spring training, which delayed the start of this critical season until April 25, and he has seemed to be playing catch-up ever since.
Heading into this weekend’s series against the Phillies, Alvarez had only two homers in 133 plate appearances and was hitting .229 (27-for-118) with 37 strikeouts and a .621 OPS. He was on the bench for Friday night’s series opener, replaced by Luis Torrens, whose stature has risen considerably since he was acquired as a backup from the Yankees a year ago for $100,000.
“I think a lot of the new things I’m doing right now, I believe in a lot,” Alvarez told Newsday’s Laura Albanese this past week in Atlanta. “I’ve just got to be patient and wait for my time. I know it’s coming. I’m going to get hot at some points.”
That’s believable. And if the rest of the Mets’ lineup is productive, they can afford to be somewhat patient, as they have been. But when combined with the defensive miscues that helped sabotage Tuesday’s extra-inning loss to Atlanta, that flammable mixture won’t be tolerated for too long.
Alvarez changed up a pitch selection that resulted in Marcell Ozuna’s tying three-run double and also threw behind a lead runner at second who was trying to advance on a dirt ball — essentially giving him third. Reliever Huascar Brazoban wound up loading the bases and Atlanta won the game that inning with a sacrifice fly.
Typically, Alvarez is a reliable defender, but that alone isn’t enough reason to keep him in the majors. Sanchez knows the internal conflict that goes on for a catcher who’s still maturing at this level.
“In my case, when I was younger, that is something that I battled with,” Sanchez said. “If I wasn’t hitting well, it would start to affect my defense, and vice versa. So I did have to learn to navigate through that because it was challenging for me. But I think over time I learned to separate the two things.”
Alvarez, only 23, still seems to be grappling with that stage of his development, and if he doesn’t get a better grip on that dynamic, the Mets will need to decide where it’s best for him to continue that process.
He has yet to approach Sanchez’s All-Star level of performance (though Alvarez somehow ranks third in this year’s balloting), but what happened to the former Yankee provides a cautionary tale.
Every team wants to have the next great slugging catcher, but few materialize. It’s a very difficult job, and the weight of expectations can be crushing.
“I still feel like I’m young,” said Sanchez, 32. “I still feel like I have a lot to give.”
The Mets say the same about Alvarez. It’s just a matter of realizing that potential — the sooner, the better.
Scranton shot in the arm?
As the Yankees mull their pitching options before the July 31 trade deadline, one internal candidate who soon could be knocking on the Bronx door is Cam Schlittler, a 6-6 righty who recently was promoted to Triple-A Scranton.
Schlittler, the organization’s pitcher of the year last season, has a 2.35 ERA in three starts for the RailRiders, with 24 strikeouts in 15 1⁄3 innings.
Against Louisville on Thursday, Schlitter walked one and whiffed nine, relying on a four-seam fastball that averaged over 96 mph and repeatedly hit 99. He also featured a slider in the low 90s with an 84-mph curveball.
Between his two levels this season, Schlittler — the Yankees’ seventh-round pick in 2022 — has 88 strikeouts in 68 1⁄3 innings.
One NL talent evaluator who recently saw Schlittler described him as having “two major-league pitches in place, a fastball with riding life and a slider/sweeper . . . just waiting on him to harness it a touch more.”
The scout also noted that Schlittler “was way ahead of [Will] Warren at the same stage.”
Warren, 26, has shown promise as the Yankees’ fourth starter (4.83 ERA, 11.7 K/9) after an emergency promotion made necessary by the flurry of injuries to the rotation. He had a rough MLB debut last season — a 10.32 ERA in six appearances (five starts) — and spent the bulk of 2024 on a second-year stint with Scranton (5.91 ERA, 23 starts).
Schlittler, a Northeastern product from Red Sox country (Walpole, Massachusetts), seems to be projecting a bit quicker.
As another NL scout said, “Velocity has been creeping up steadily . . . I would guess with more velo he probably fits into the No. 5 starter bucket now.”
The Yankees’ top four of Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and Warren have stayed healthy enough to account for 58 of the 75 starts this season. But with Marcus Stroman’s rotation status upon his return uncertain and Luis Gil (lat strain) not expected back until the end of July, at the earliest, the Yankees could get to Schlittler at some point this season.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
