Man, do not run on #ElGary! Not even close. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/9RRGYkXhVM
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) February 26, 2017
TAMPA — There was a Gary Sanchez sighting Sunday at Steinbrenner Field.
The Yankees’ second-year catcher put on his first show of the spring not with his bat, but his throwing arm.
One of baseball’s best throwing catchers, Sanchez gunned down two Toronto Blue Jays basestealers in the third inning of a Grapefruit League game.
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With the Yankees leading 3-0, reliever Johnny Barbato replaced starter Luis Severino in the third, walked two of three innings in the inning and both were gunned down trying to steal.
Sanchez first threw out Jon Berti, who led off with a walk, then threw out Ezequiel Carrera, who had worked a two-out walk.
Sanchez became a national story late last season by hitting 20 homers in 52 games following an early August call-up from Triple-A, but he’d always also been known for having a very strong throwing arm.
Basestealers, in fact, had poor success late season against Sanchez, who threw out 41 percent of them (13 of 32). He was much better than the Yankees’ two other catchers last season … Brian McCann (23 percent, 14 of 61) and Austin Romine (17 percent, 4 of 24).
It’s very early, but Sanchez is off to a slow start at the plate so far this spring. He was 0-for-3 on Sunday, leaving him 0-for-6 in two games.
Against the Jays, Sanchez flied to center in the first, grounded to second in the third and flied to center in the fifth.
Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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