Why Gary Sanchez makes a ton of sense for the Pirates

On Thursday night, reports came out from Robert Murray of Fansided, that the Pirates are interested in catcher Gary Sanchez. Earlier this offseason, the Pirates lost starting catcher, Endy Rodriguez, for the season to a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). He received Tommy John surgery to repair the torn ligament, leaving Henry Davis and Jason Delay as the lone catchers on the 40-man roster. Ali Sanchez was signed to a major league contract, but he is 27 years old and has appeared in only seven major league games. Let's take a deeper look into Gary Sanchez and why he should be signed.

Gary Sanchez played for the New York Mets and San Diego Padres in 2023. He is a power-hitting catcher with 173 home runs for his career. Many say that Sanchez is not much of a defender behind the plate, but last season, he was a very solid defender. At 30 years old, Sanchez remains a serviceable catcher that the Pirates should sign.

In 2023, Sanchez had an average year at the plate. He posted a batting average of .217 with 19 home runs and 47 runs batted in. Along with those numbers, Sanchez had a wRC+ 111, a .492 slugging, and a 1.7 WAR. Defensively, he had 7 defense runs saved along with throwing out 10 runners. All around he seems to be a solid catcher to be in the mix with Henry Davis.

Now that we know those stats, let's look at why we need him over Jason Delay. Delay is a decent defender with 2 defensive runs saved and a great 8.4 frame rating. His arm isn’t very good as he only threw out 6 runners on 55 stolen base attempts. Where his value comes with the Pirates is how Mitch Keller pitches very well with Delay as his personal catcher. That was the case in 2023, but I believe after a whole spring training with Gary Sanchez and Henry Davis, he can make it work with them. Not only is Sanchez a better fielder than Delay, but he is also significantly a better hitter. Delay batted .251 with 1 homerun and 18 runs batted in. His wRC+ is 82 and his slugging is just .347. 

As you can see, Gary Sanchez is a significant upgrade behind the plate to Jason Delay. I believe that Henry Davis and Gary Sanchez would be a great duo behind the plate this season. Sanchez would only be signed to a one-year deal because the Pirates get Endy Rodriguez back in 2025. This signing would easily make the Pirates better this season. I could see the Pirates waiting to sign him officially until February 14th because the 40-man roster is full, and the Pirates have four guys to put on the 60-day injured list beginning that day.