By now, everyone in baseball has heard about Yankees sensation Gary Sánchez, who has kick-started his Major League career by hitting 11 homers in his first 23 games, faster than anyone in history. (All 11 actually came in a span of just 15 games, since he didn't go deep in

By now, everyone in baseball has heard about Yankees sensation Gary Sánchez , who has kick-started his Major League career by hitting 11 homers in his first 23 games, faster than anyone in history. (All 11 actually came in a span of just 15 games, since he didn't go deep in his first seven.) But for all the well-deserved attention he's commanding for what he's doing next to the plate, have you also noticed what he's doing behind it?

We knew when Sanchez was coming up that he had a strong throwing arm; after all, just about every scouting report mentioned it. MLBPipeline.com, for example, noted that he had "two standout tools: huge raw power and an exceptionally strong arm." Now that we've had a few weeks of Sanchez in the big leagues and in front of the Statcast™ tracking cameras, we can confirm that, and then some.

Consider this: Through Sunday, we've tracked 1,128 individual catcher throws to second base on steal attempts. Despite starting only 15 games at catcher (he's been the designated hitter a few times so far), Sanchez is tied for the third-strongest throw by anyone this year -- as well as owning three of the top seven, and five of the top 10.

Hardest throws to second base on steal attempt, catchers, 2016

1. 89.3 mph -- Christian Bethancourt , Aug. 22

2. 88.3 mph -- Bethancourt, July 20



(tie) 87.8 mph -- Sanchez, Aug. 5 / Sanchez, Aug. 27 / Cameron Rupp , June 2

(tie) 87.4 mph -- Sanchez, Aug. 24 / Martín Maldonado , Apr. 14

(tie) 87.2 mph -- Sanchez, Aug. 11 / Bethancourt, July 23

10. 87.0 mph -- Sanchez, Aug. 22

MLB average: 79.1 mph

That's impressive company, or at least it ought to be. Remember, Bethancourt's arm is so well-respected that in addition to his catching duties, the Padres have used him both as a pitcher Drew Butera 's 84.9 mph.

So far, Sanchez has thrown out six of the nine baserunners who have attempted to steal against him; for comparison, Colorado's Nick Hundley has also thrown out six, but of 53. In an obviously small sample size, that 67 percent success rate is the best of the 82 catchers with at least five total stolen-base attempts against, at all bases.

Interestingly enough, that strong arm helps to mask a roughly average or ever-so-slightly below exchange David Ross , at .64 seconds, and it progresses up in fractions until you get to Devin Mesoraco , who was rarely healthy this year

Gif: Gary Sanchez throws out runner at 2nd

When you combine exchange time and arm strength into " pop time Salvador Perez for sixth at 1.9 seconds, where J.T. Realmuto is the leader at 1.84 seconds and Bethancourt is second at 1.85. There's different ways to get there -- Sanchez and Betancourt have elite arms, Realmuto has an above-average arm plus an above-average exchange time -- but either way, Sanchez has proved himself to be stellar.

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But for every rule, or assumed rule, there's always going to be outliers. In the case of Sanchez, who made his most recent return to the big leagues less than a month ago