[citation needed] Before the 2012 season, Sánchez was ranked as the Yankees fourth best prospect by Baseball America.

[10] He began the 2012 season with Charleston and received a midseason promotion to the Tampa Yankees of the High-A Florida State League.

After batting .254 with 13 home runs and 61 RBIs, the Yankees promoted him to the Trenton Thunder of the Double-A Eastern League on August 3.

[13] After the Futures Game, the Yankees promoted Sánchez to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Triple-A International League, where he hit a home run in his first at-bat.

[20] As a result of his strong season, the Yankees felt comfortable trading fellow catcher John Ryan Murphy during the offseason.

[21] Sánchez competed with Austin Romine to serve as the backup catcher to Brian McCann on the Yankees' Opening Day roster in 2016, but he began the season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

For the 2016 season, Sánchez played in 53 games for the Yankees with a .299 batting average, 20 home runs, and 42 RBIs.

[27] On April 8, 2017, Sánchez left the game after straining his right brachialis muscle in the bicep and was placed on the 10-day disabled list.

[30] On June 10, Sánchez hit the hardest home run of his career, a 115.1-mph laser to left-center field against Mike Wright of the Baltimore Orioles.

The following day, Sánchez hit the farthest home run of his career, a 450-foot shot off Kevin Gausman of the Orioles.

"[35] Sánchez played a key role in the Yankees' four-game sweep of the New York Mets by hitting three home runs and throwing out multiple runners trying to steal.

[42][26] In the postseason, he batted .208/.218/.415 with three home runs and eight RBIs as the Yankees lost in Game 7 of the ALCS to the Astros.

[43] On April 26, Sánchez hit his first career walk-off, a three-run home run off of Minnesota Twins closer Fernando Rodney as the Yankees won 4–3.

In the bottom of the first inning, a low pitch from Luis Severino bounced off Sanchez’s foot and rolled up the third base line.

Sanchez hit a sharp ground ball to Daniel Robertson, who flipped it to Willy Adames, but Hicks hustled enough to be safe at second.

Judge would have scored and tied the game but instead the Yankees lost to the Rays 6–7, due to Sánchez’s lack of hustle.

[45] Sánchez finished the 2018 season with a disappointing .186 batting average with 18 home runs and 53 RBIs in 89 games played.

[48] On September 3, 2019, Sánchez broke his own franchise record by hitting two home runs (number 33 and 34), in a winning effort against the Texas Rangers.

He now has the two highest single-season home run totals ever for a Yankees catcher, as well as becoming the second with multiple 30-homer years, joining Yogi Berra.

[53][54] On April 3, 2021, during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sanchez became the tenth Yankees player and second Yankees catcher in franchise history to hit a home run in the first two games of the season, behind Elston Howard who achieved the feat in 1963, his MVP year.

[56] On March 13, 2022, the Yankees traded Sánchez along with Gio Urshela to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ben Rortvedt.

[58] He played in 16 games for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, hitting .164/.319/.182 with no home runs and 8 RBIs.

On September 6, Sánchez suffered a fractured right wrist after being hit by a pitch from Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jeff Hoffman.