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Sabathia hails Sanchez as Yankees' best hitter

Abbie Parr / Getty Images Sport / Getty

CC Sabathia weighed in on who he thinks is the best overall hitter in the potent New York Yankees lineup: slugging catcher Gary Sanchez.

With all the hubbub surrounding home run machines Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, Sabathia told Erik Boland of Newsday that he's more taken by Sanchez's swagger and stroke.

Sabathia said Sanchez has "power to all fields," and the 25-year-old reminds him of "a young Manny Ramirez."

He's not wrong. In 2017, Sanchez punished the ball with ruthless aplomb, batting .278/.345/.531 with 33 home runs and 90 RBIs in 122 games. He spread the ball around, too. While he did hit the majority of his long balls to left or left-center, he managed to regularly hit to the opposite field.

Sanchez burst onto the scene on a torrid pace in 2016, when he hit 20 home runs in only 53 games. Though he wasn't able to continue hitting long balls at that advanced rate, he proved he can hang with his power-hitting peers.

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