After 6 Seasons and 96 MLB Games, Ali Sanchez Finally Got His First Home Run

Ali Sanchez had been waiting a long time for this. Six seasons, four organizations, 96 big league games. Zero home runs.

That changed Monday night in Chicago.

The Yankees catcher crushed a three-run homer in the eighth inning against the White Sox, a 371-foot shot that turned a tight game into a 9-4 lead. New York won 9-5, but the final score was almost secondary. This was about Sanchez finally getting that first one.

Sanchez made his MLB debut in 2020 with the Mets. He bounced to the Red Sox, then the Blue Jays, then back to New York on a minor league deal this spring. He spent time in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before getting called up in late June. In 20 games before Monday, he had four hits. No power to speak of.

Then he got ahold of one.

“I mean, that’s a moment that I always talk with my teammates about, and it’s just special,” Sanchez told Meredith Marakovits of YES Network after the game. “I felt that I was living a dream running the bases. Just a little kid running from Venezuela in a small town, just running the bases. That’s it.”

The home run came off White Sox reliever Justin Anderson. It was a fastball middle-in, and Sanchez didn’t miss. The ball landed in the left-field seats, and the Yankees dugout erupted. Sanchez rounded the bases with a grin that said everything.

A long road to a short memory

Sanchez is 29 years old. That’s not old in real life, but in baseball years, it’s late for a first career homer. Most players who get one do it within their first season or two. Sanchez had to wait through 284 plate appearances across parts of five seasons.

He never came close before. No near-misses. No warning-track outs that had him thinking. Just a whole lot of singles and strikeouts.

“Probably give it to my family,” Sanchez said when asked about the home run ball.

The Yankees needed this win. They’d dropped two of three to the Red Sox over the weekend, and they fell behind 3-0 in the first inning Monday. But they rallied for four runs in the fourth, and Sanchez’s insurance homer in the eighth gave the bullpen some breathing room.

For Sanchez, it’s a moment he’ll never forget. For the Yankees, it’s a nice story in a long season. Either way, the ball is going to Venezuela.