Why Yankees’ CC Sabathia thrives with Gary Sanchez despite ‘weakness in his game’

Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia has had much better success throwing to Gary Sanchez than Austin Romine over the years. Sabathia will be on the mound Thursday, May 10, 2018 (5/10/18) when the Yankees go for the three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox.

NEW YORK — CC Sabathia will be the Yankees‘ starting pitcher Thursday night when they go for a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox, and once again he’ll probably be throwing to Gary Sanchez, his unofficial personal catcher.

For obvious reasons, right-hander Sonny Gray prefers working with backup catcher Austin Romine.

Not Sabathia.

He and the Yankees’ starting catcher click, and it’s been that way pretty much since the final two months of the 2016 season when Sanchez came up from Triple-A to take the No. 1 job from Brian McCann.

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Sabathia knows that Sanchez gets a lot of grief from fans and media for his defensive shortcomings, but it hasn’t been a big issue when they’ve worked together.

“Man, honestly I don’t even read or think about what people are saying about Gary,” Sabathia said Wednesday before the Yankees’ 9-6 win over the Red Sox. “He’s been good for me. He’s calling good games for me.”

They’ve certainly had success as a team, as Sabathia’s ERA is 2.69 with Sanchez catching 27 of his starts.

Of the 19 different catchers that Sabathia has pitched to over his 18 big-league seasons, he has a lower ERA with just two – Jason Kendall (1.65, 17 starts) and Sal Fasano (1.29 ERA, 1 start).

Perhaps surprisingly, Sabathia’s ERA pitching to Romine is his highest, 5.82 ERA over 19 starts.

Sabathia accepts Sanchez’s shortcomings – blocking balls in the dirt have been and remain an issue – for a bunch of reasons.

Despite his slow start at the plate this season, Sanchez arguably is the best-hitting catcher in the game. Also, he has the best throwing arm among catchers plus a very quick release that often shuts down opponents’ running games. 

And, perhaps most importantly, Sabathia is convinced that Sanchez is determined to improve his defense despite critics blaming a lot of his MLB-high 16 passed balls last season and six so far this year on laziness.

“He’s working hard,” said Sabathia, who is 2-0 with a 1.39 ERA this season in six starts, all of them with Sanchez catching. “You can’t get mad or say anything about a guy who’s working hard. He’s working at it. It’s obvious that’s a weakness in his game, so it is what it is. You deal with it and try to do whatever you can do help him get better.”

Sabathia says he’s seeing improvement despite what Sanchez’s stats suggest. 

“I feel like he’s gotten better,” Sabathia said. “Way better.”

Sanchez’s blocking skills, or lack thereof, led to more criticism on Tuesday night when a fifth-inning wild pitch that looked stoppable led to Red Sox second baseman Eduardo Nunez reaching first base on a strikeout.

The wild pitch didn’t cost the Yankees a run, but ace Luis Severino ending up throwing an extra 17 pitches after his third strikeout of the inning and it contributed to the righty running up a pitch count of 109 when he was pulled after six-plus innings while leading 2-1.

“I hope the negative stuff doesn’t get to Sanchez because I don’t think anybody in here is mad at him or frustrated,” Sabathia said. “He’s a great kid and we’re all in this together.

“Plus, I think Sanchez can catch. And he’s young. I think the best is yet to come as far as him catching.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.