New York Yankees skipper Joe Girardi believes the performance by his young catching phenom Gary Sanchez could be worthy of some hardware when the season ends.
Girardi told reporters Monday that he believes Sanchez "should be considered" for the American League Rookie of the Year despite the 23-year-old having only played 35 games this season.
Though his time in the majors has been brief, Sanchez has made an enormous impact. He's hitting .333/.411/.697 with 13 home runs, nine doubles, and 24 RBIs while throwing out 39 percent of potential base stealers. He was named the AL Rookie and Player of the Month for August, and helped the Yankees go 23-14 since being called up on Aug. 3.
Girardi does acknowledge that Sanchez's late arrival to the majors will work against him heavily in the eyes of the voters, and he'll need to duplicate his record performance down the stretch to stand a chance.
"It's going to be hard for him to win, in a sense, because he hasn't been here the whole year," Girardi said. "But if he puts up 20 days like he did the other 20-day period, he's going to be in real consideration."
Sanchez currently leads all AL rookie position players with 2.4 WAR and is fifth in home runs despite only receiving only 132 at-bats. Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer is the current front-runner for the award. He's 10-6 with a 2.76 ERA in 23 starts.
