Two hitting coaches are looking at Gary Sanchez’s upcoming left shoulder surgery from different angles as it pertains to the Yankees catcher’s ability to hit following a debridement procedure performed by team physician Christopher Ahmad on Thursday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
According to a Yankees release, the surgery went as expected.
“Not a big concern. It is going to help him finish his swing better when healed,’’ a big-league hitting coach told The Post, speaking about Sanchez’s front shoulder. “He just needs to get strong and it will be good.’’
A former big-league hitting coach said the finishing process could be affected by the cleanup process that is expected to require three months of rehab.
“It could be a big deal because that is his extension and finish. It’s a strength issue,’’ the second hitting coach explained. “It’s where you put the last umph into [the swing] and it’s all from the front shoulder and power guys tend to have long swings.’’
General manager Brian Cashman said at this week’s general managers’ meetings that Sanchez will have enough spring training time to be ready for the March 28 opener against the Orioles.
Dr. Joshua Dines, an orthopedic surgeon in sports medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery, said the debridement is on the minor side when it comes to shoulder surgeries. Dines hasn’t examined Sanchez nor looked at tests results.
“It’s a fancy word for a cleanup, typically nothing is being repaired,’’ Dines said. “So if you are not repairing anything after surgery you can get a lot more aggressive quickly because you are not depending on anything to heal. From that perspective it’s much more a minor surgery.’’
Yet, there is a chance something more involved is active inside the shoulder.
“The only thing to comment on is that it doesn’t mean the pathology, or what is going on in there, isn’t bad,’’ Dines said. “They may have bad arthritis and some loose pieces that are being cleaned up, but that doesn’t portend a great long-term prognosis and that is what I don’t know here. But a debridement is more on the minor scale. By three months they should be doing everything. You generally feel better than before the surgery and there are no restrictions at that point.’’
Using Aaron Judge’s timetable after having arthroscopic surgery — more involved than a debridement — on his left (non-throwing) shoulder late last November, it’s not out of the question Sanchez could be ready for Opening Day.
Judge was the Yankees’ DH on Feb. 28, played right field four times between March 2-8 and played the position in back-to-back games March 10-11.
So much was made of Sanchez’s defensive problems — he led the majors in 18 passed balls and was behind the plate for 45 wild pitches, which ranked fifth — but the season was a dud at the plate, too.
In 13 games from mid-September to the end of the regular season, Judge hit .220 (9-for-41) with a homer, six RBIs, a .675 OPS and a .330 on-base percentage. He rebounded in five postseason games, hitting .421 (8-for-19) with three homers, four RBIs, a 1.447 OPS and a .500 on-base percentage.
Limited to 89 games due to a pair of disabled list stints with hamstring problems, Sanchez hit .186 with 18 homers, 53 RBIs and a .697 OPS. That was way off compared to the .299 average, 20 homers, 42 RBIs and a .807 OPS in 53 games in 2016 and a .278 average with 33 homers, 90 RBIs and a .876 OPS in 122 games in 2017.
The Yankees signed veteran catcher Ryan Lavarnway to a minor league deal with a spring training invite, The Post’s Joel Sherman reported Thursday. The 31-year-old figures to spend much of his time at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, serving as experienced insurance behind Sanchez and Austin Romine. Kyle Higashioka also will be in the mix.
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