“When you’re on defense, that’s, say, 150 pitches a night that you have to be locked in on,” the team’s catching coach, Jason Brown, said. “That’s in addition to offense and in between innings all that’s going on with the game planning and working with the pitching staff. Things throughout the game can pull you in different directions. But learning how best to come in and out of at-bats, from pitch to pitch, from different pitchers to pitching changes, there’s a lot to adjust to.”

To help, Sanchez learned a trick from Bohling: When he is catching, Sanchez said, he tries to focus only on what is between the first- and third-base lines — and nothing else. “Like when they put those things on the horses to look just straight,” Sanchez said, putting his hands next to his eyes.

Sanchez, a native of the Dominican Republic, learned from motivational videos Bohling sent him, turning on the Spanish subtitles to better understand them. Bohling travels with the team, and when he sees Sanchez, he often issues the same reminder: “Focus, focus.”

Sanchez said Bohling even urged him to spend less time on his cellphone. Sanchez said his wife, Sahaira, suggested the same at home. Sanchez said he sometimes has trouble being in the moment, as when he is watching television at home and his wife tries to tell him something.

“When something I wanted to see is done, I say, ‘What did you say?’” Sanchez said, adding later: “Sometimes my daughter tells me something and I’m thinking about something else. I need to get better at that.”