Yankees fans know the biggest and brightest star from Thursday’s Opening Day loss. No question, it was Gary Sanchez.
What a start to the season this was for a two-time All-Star catcher who mostly was brutal at the plate and receiving last year. In game one, it was home run, infield single, walk, no strikeouts, blocked balls in the dirt and a runner thrown out on a caught stealing. He also seemed to be in sync with all five Yankees pitchers, Gerrit Cole included.
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There were other under-the-radar positives that could lead to payoffs this season worthy of some pub.
Here are three with comment from an MLB scout who has been followed the Yankees closely this spring and watched all 10 innings of their season-opening loss to the Toronto Blue Jays:
LOAISIGA’S DOMINANCE
This might be the year that right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga turns into what Dellin Betances was for the Yankees’ bullpen during his best seasons.
This little, skinny fellow throws hard, his stuff is good, his command has improved and, most importantly, he’s finally showing that he can stay healthy. Loaisiga had a good season last year. Good, not great. He was great this spring. He threw more strikes. He was efficient. His high-90s fastball had more life.
There was a carryover on Opening Day. Loaisiga entered in the eighth inning of a 2-2 game to face the top of the order in a Blue Jays’ lineup that might be the second-best in baseball behind the Yankees, and it was three up, three down on seven pitches, six of them 97-98 mph fastballs.
Loaisiga fell behind leadoff hitter Marcus Semien 3-1, then blew a 98-mph heater by him for strike two and got a strikeout swinging on a good diving slider. From there, Loaisiga went back to his fastball and got two outs in two pitches when Cavan Biggio skied a mile-high can of corn to center field and Bo Bichette chopped a four-hopper to second base.
“I love Loaisiga,” said the scout, who was granted anonymity. “Love him! That guy’s going to pay big dividends for the Yankees this year.”
The scout added that he thinks Loaisiga is turning into a carbon copy of Chad Green, another right-handed power arm in the Yankees bullpen who is a multi-innings option.
“I actually might like Loaisiga more now than Chad Green, who is hard to figure out,” the scout said. “You see Green good, then you see him bad. You see the breaking ball is good, then it’s nonexistent. Green’s got to develop more consistency. That’s where Loaisiga comes in.”
Until this season, Green pitched in a lot of high-leverage situations while Loaisiga mostly was used as a middle reliever, opener or spot starter. He’s now probably cemented as a permanent bullpen piece after faring very well in that role last season, but he still has to show that he can pitch on back-to-back days. He’s never done it because he’s never been given the opportunity, and the Yankees’ reasoning makes sense.
The Yankees want to keep Loaisiga healthy. He’s had a lot of injuries. He’s been on the IL a lot as a minor leaguer and big leaguer. He was on again last season, but it was for a non-COVID illness, so that wasn’t an injury. Since his arm has been fine for a couple of years, this might be the season that the Yankees’ extend the leash.
“They’re going to have to start doing it because Loaisiga is showing he can stay healthy and he’s one of their best bullpen arms,” the scout said.
TAUCHMAN’S BASERUNNING
There were a bunch of reasons why the Yankees decided to keep Mike Tauchman as a bench player over Jay Bruce before Luke Voit’s knee surgery made room for both on the Opening Day roster.
Tauchman plays all three outfield positions well. He’s a left-handed bat with good power. He’s a low-salary player who has more four years of team control.
His baseball IQ and baserunning skills played up in the Yankees’ season opener.
First off, it was a little surprising when manager Aaron Boone opted for Tauchman instead of Brett Gardner as a pinch-runner after Sanchez led off the home ninth of a 2-2 game with a walk. Tauchman runs well, but Gardner still is faster at age 37.
Boone knew what he was going. With Bruce at the plate and slow-to-the-plate reliever Jordan Romano on the mound, Tauchman stole second base to put the winning run in scoring position with nobody out. Then after Bruce struck out, Tauchman stole third with Clint Frazier batting. The Yankees didn’t score there and lost the game one inning later, but those steals set them up nicely. They also gave Tauchman 16 in 18 career attempts.
“I’ve always wrote in my reports that Tauchman is not a speed burner, but a good baserunner,’” the scout said. “He got good baserunning instincts.”
The scout compares Tauchman’s prowess on the base paths to generation-ago Kansas City Royals catcher John Wathan, who swiped 36 bases in 1982 and 28 in 1993.
“Wathan was not a fast runner, but really smart and he knew pitchers,” the scout said. “Watson knew which pitches he could run on, and he did it. That’s who Tauchman reminds me of.”
FRAZIER’S PATIENCE
Clint Frazier is a guy who plays on emotion, and you know that he was dying to be the hero of his first Opening Day start when he was batting in the ninth inning with one out and Tauchman on third base. Frazier probably wanted to hit the ball 500 feet, but happily would have settled for a walk-off sac fly.
Frazier wound up falling behind in the count 1-2, which put him in a situation where he had to protect the plate because the last thing he wanted to do was get rung up. Then he takes ball two, ball three and ball four, the walk coming on a slider that he impressively didn’t chase.
So instead of trying too hard to be the hero, Frazier embraced the next-man up mentality and put the game in DJ LeMahieu’s hands. It didn’t work out because Tauchman ran on contact and was thrown out at the plate on LeMahieu’s chopper to third and then Aaron Judge struck out, but this was smart hitting by Frazier that probably would lead to the Yankees winning the game nine times out of 10.
“Impressive walk,” the scout said. “Frazier’s starting to mature into the player that everybody thought he was going to be out of high school.
“It also seems like he’s getting along with his teammates a lot better. I know he was a Gold Glove finalist last year, but he still needs to get a lot of work done in the outfield. But that’s OK. He’s getting better and I like what I see from Frazier at the plate.”
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