TAMPA -- We're still very early into spring training and Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez already looks ready to pick up where he left off in his amazing rookie season.

Sanchez made like Babe Ruth hitting 20 homers in 53 games last season and he was raking in batting practice on Monday at Steinbrenner Field.

Niese ready to fight for spot in bullpen

We captured one of his BP swings that the several hundred fans on hand really enjoyed ... a line-drive home run to left field. And this was just one of several that easily cleared the fence.

What can we expect from Sanchez in 2017 ... his first full season in the majors?

"I think to try to keep up that pace for a whole season will be obviously very difficult, and it just doesn't happen very often," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after his team's workout. "But I think that expectations are high. He has to guard against putting too much pressure on himself and maybe feeling those expectations. And those are things we might have to help him with.

"Sometimes when you have players like that or players that have the ability that he has, sometimes no matter who they are they can never fulfill the expectations just because they're so high. But in a sense that's not a bad thing because that means you must be a pretty good player."

Sanchez, by the way, hit Monday in a BP group that included 6-foot-7 rookie right fielder Aaron Judge, who hit the longest homer of the day. Wish we had that one on video!

"The balls are flying," Girardi said. "I can tell you that. We worry actually about the construction workers (beyond the left-field fence). ... I just think the ball is really coming off the bat from a lot of our younger players. I know it's BP, but the potential is there to have huge run production from some of these guys. And that kind of excites me."

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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