We love Gary Sanchez. Yankees fans have been begging for a new, young, homegrown star, and it’s very possible we have one in Sanchez. After five seasons on a top prospect list, Sanchez finally graduated last season, putting up numbers that are nearly historic for a rookie season: a 171 wRC+ over 53 games. Since 1945, only Frank Thomas and Willie McCovey had a higher wRC+ in their debut season.
There are some players at the top of that wRC+ leaderboard whose careers didn’t end in stardom: Bernie Carbo, Bret Barberie, Bill Salkeld, and Brett Lawrie, to name a few.