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A whole lot of things went right for the Yankees in 2018. The team won 100 games and made the playoffs before losing a tough series to the Red Sox. The team saw several young players emerge including Miguel Andujar, Gleyber Torres, and Luis Severino and they have arguably the scariest slugging duo in the entire league in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
One area of concern this offseason, though, has been the health of Gary Sanchez. Sanchez missed time in 2018 on a couple of occasions with a groin issue which ultimately limited him to 89 games last season. Moreover, word more recently had been that his shoulder had been giving him problems for a while. After consulting with doctors, the Yankees and Sanchez opted to correct the problem before it caused him any further grief.
Earlier today, C Gary Sánchez underwent left shoulder debridement performed by Yankees Head Team Physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. The surgery went as expected.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) November 8, 2018
The recovery time for Gary Sanchez's surgery is three months. Brian Cashman said that he'll be a rehab player in Spring Training, and should be a full go for Opening Day.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) November 8, 2018
The good news for Yankees fans here is that the timing of the surgery is good in that he should be healed up and ready to get back into game shape just as the club is getting ready to get into the think of Spring Training. The three month timetable for Sanchez certainly isn’t as brutal during the offseason than if the surgery had been done in, say, August.
However, shoulder injuries are notoriously tricky and there is no real way to guarantee that he will be completely good to go before the start of the season even with the Yankees’ optimism.
Sanchez holds a .253/.333/.515 career stat line in the majors while posting a .186/.291/.406 line in 89 games with the Yankees in 2018.