Gary Sanchez doesn't care about defense, doesn't want to work at it, doesn't play hard and, in the harshest evaluations, is lazy.
This year in particular that has become the dominant part of a mostly unflattering public narrative for the Yankees catcher.
"It definitely doesn't feel good if they call you that (lazy) because they don't understand how hard it has been to get to the big leagues and how long the journey has been," Sanchez said in a recent interview.
The 25-year-old, fresh off the disabled list, knows his past has played a role in contributing to that reputation. But it's also one that, based on conversations with those on the inside, isn't accurate.
"Nobody sees what's behind the scenes," Austin Romine said. "I just saw the guy hit for an hour and a half down there (in the cages) after he did his catching drills for an hour. People don't see that. We do. That's why you earn respect amongst your teammates."
At the time Romine spoke those words, on Aug. 15, he was the starting catcher.
Sanchez aggravated his right groin, which had already sidelined him earlier in the season and an injury he probably came back from too soon, in a July 23 game at Tampa (more on that game later). He was placed on the DL the next day with a groin strain.
Sanchez's struggles at the plate _ hitting .188 with a .699 OPS and 14 homers before he came off the DL Saturday_ combined with Romine's solid defense and better-than-expected work with the bat brought on another narrative: Whenever Sanchez returned, the Yankees should play Romine more at catcher and maybe even keep him as the starter.
Romine, with the organization since the Yankees picked him in the second round of the 2007 draft, called that talk "a compliment," but ill-conceived.
"When Gary comes back," Romine said forcefully, "he's the starter. He's an All-Star."
Romine is among Sanchez's staunchest defenders in a clubhouse full of them.
"He works his (butt) off and he's gotten better and he cares," CC Sabathia said. "I like throwing to him. ... Everybody just always knocks his defense, him blocking balls or whatever else it is, but if you look at it, guys pitch well when they throw to him. So that's him, too."
A significant part of that, several pitchers said, are things Sanchez doesn't get enough credit for, including a plus-arm scouts have raved about since he was a teenager.
"His game-calling has gotten way, way better than it used to be," Luis Severino said. "Framing is something he's gotten better on, gaining strikes. And he's always had the good arm, throwing guys out, to control the running game. But for me, the main thing is game-calling. He's very smart in that."
Severino continued: "It's not always about what the hitter hits. Sometimes the (scouting report) says, 'He's a good slider hitter.' But that day he's not hitting the slider and (Sanchez) adjusts. That's the stuff that makes a catcher better."
The 2017 pitcher splits with Sanchez and Romine were interesting. Masahiro Tanaka, for instance, posted a 5.34 ERA in 21 games with Sanchez and a 3.15 ERA in 10 games with Romine. But Sabathia's ERA was 2.96 in 20 games with Sanchez compared to 5.79 in five games with Romine (this season it's 3.82 in seven games with Romine, 2.71 in 12 games with Sanchez).
Severino, not surprisingly, was good with both catchers in 2017 when he finished third in AL Cy Young voting _ a 2.86 ERA in 22 games with Sanchez and a 3.29 ERA in nine games with Romine.
Sonny Gray, famously, had a 4.63 ERA in eight games with Sanchez and a 1.45 ERA in three games with Romine, spurring the "personal catcher" debate. Throwing almost exclusively to Romine this season, Gray lost his rotation spot.
"He works a lot," Severino said of Sanchez, with whom he has a 2.67 ERA this season compared to 3.59 with Romine. "I've been with him since I was in Double-A (in 2014) and I see the progress. He worked his (butt) off to get better."
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