Sixto Sanchez dazzles in MLB debut and signals the Marlins’ latest move toward the future

Sixto Sanchez’s first pitch as a Major League Baseball player whizzed past the Washington Nationals’ Trea Turner and into Francisco Cervelli’s glove for a called strike.

The radar gun’s reading on the four-seam fastball: 98.4 mph.

Two pitches later, Sanchez hit triple digits for the first time in the big leagues. He would do that three more times in the inning and five times total throughout the game Saturday night at Nationals Park. That first inning ended with Sanchez striking out Asdrubal Cabrera with a 90.9 mph slider on the 12th pitch of the frame.

No nerves, at least none that were shown. Just the command and pure stuff the Marlins have seen during his time in the minor leagues.

“I’ve been working for this moment,” Sanchez, 22, said through a translator during summer camp ahead of the season. “In the Dominican Republic, I was working to make sure I was at my best. Then, when I came back, I was ready to go. Just waiting for my moment.”

The moment, finally, is here.

Sanchez, the Marlins’ top prospect and the No. 24 prospect in all of baseball, made his MLB debut Saturday in the Marlins’ 5-3 win in seven innings over the Nationals to split their doubleheader and improve to 11-10 on the season. Washington (10-14) won the first game of the set 5-4 earlier in the day.

Sanchez’s final line: Six hits and three earned runs allowed over five innings of work. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Of his 66 pitches, 46 went for strikes.

His two mistakes: Home runs from Yan Gomes and Victor Robles on pitches high in the strike zone.

But Sanchez received enough help from the offense courtesy of a Corey Dickerson two-run home run, a two-run rally in the fourth and a Jon Berti sacrifice fly in the fifth to earn his first career win.

“It was all I expected it to be,” Sanchez said after the game. “I worked hard to get to this day.”

The Marlins have been waiting for him to reach this day, too, and his debut Saturday marked the latest signal that the team’s future is starting to become its present.

Player after player, top Marlins prospect after top Marlins prospect, has been given his opportunity in the big-leagues this season. Eight of the Marlins’ top-30 prospects according to MLB Pipeline have made their MLB debuts this year. All but one of those eight were acquired since the Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter ownership group took over the franchise.

Three, outfielder Monte Harrison, first baseman Lewin Diaz and pitcher Jorge Guzman, have been sent back down after short stints. Three others, relievers Nick Neidert, Jordan Holloway and Alex Vesia, have been sidelined by the team’s coronavirus outbreak that struck three games into the season.

The Marlins’ hope is that Sanchez improves on his outing from Saturday and forces them to keep him on the roster even as three of Miami’s starting pitchers sidelined by COVID-19 get closer to returning to the club.

“Usually guys like Sixto, they don’t go bouncing back and forth,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said earlier this season. “Once you see him, you’re like, ‘OK, we can do something with that.’ You want to make sure that guy is ready, and he doesn’t come up here not prepared to physically compete.”

‘Getting him built up’

The Marlins took a cautious approach with their top prospect ever since they acquired him in that February 2019 trade with the Philadelphia Phillies for J.T. Realmuto.

He was coming off a limited 2018 season as he dealt with right elbow inflammation. The Marlins delayed his 2019 season by a couple months to ease him back into regular action.

But it didn’t take long for him to show why he’s one of baseball’s top rising pitchers.

Sanchez threw 114 innings last season between Class A Advanced Jupiter and Double A Jacksonville. In 18 Double A starts, Sanchez posted a 2.53 ERA, held opponents to a .225 batting average and struck out 97 batters compared to just 19 walks.

The Marlins invited Sanchez to big-league spring training before the coronavirus pandemic struck, but he wasn’t able to take advantage of the opportunity.

Simply put, he was out of shape. The Marlins had to wean him back into baseball activities, limiting him to mostly drill work and bullpen sessions instead of having him play in Grapefruit League games like the slew of other prospects.

In that sense, baseball’s three-month hiatus helped him. It gave Sanchez the opportunity to slim down to about 225 pounds. He also was able to build up to about 90 pitches while working at the team’s alternate training site in Jupiter.

“Our biggest thing with him was getting him built up,” Mattingly said. “Making sure his stuff gets dialed in but also that he physically was ready. We didn’t want somebody coming up here and trying to do too much when he wasn’t really ready for it. Hopefully, we’re at a point where, when he pitches, he’s ready for it physically.”

Scouting report

At 6-foot, Sanchez’s staturing isn’t necessarily intimidating. Personally, he’s a laid-back guy, too. But stand in the box and take one look at any of Sanchez’s pitches, and it’s hard to deny his talent.

Sanchez’s fastballs — both the four-seam and the cutter — will get a lot of attention, and deservedly so. Sanchez is able to hit 100 mph with both.

Marlins starting shortstop Miguel Rojas, who faced Sanchez in Jupiter last week while working his way back from his bout with COVID-19, learned that first hand. Rojas had four at-bats against Sanchez after being away from the field for more than three weeks while in quarantine.

“I think the rush of knowing that he has the opportunity to be in the big-leagues this year, and having the chance to face big-league hitters, he wanted to look good,” Rojas said Thursday. “I think that was the best day that he looked at our alternate site.”

And as much as the competition helped Rojas get a better feel for seeing high velocity pitches again, it also helped Sanchez get a test against proven big-league players.

“It was a long time since I faced hitters like them,” Sanchez said. “All I did was concentrate, do my best. I knew if I did well, I would have the chance to be here.”

Sanchez is more than just a flamethrower, though. He’s able to throw strikes and get outs with his secondary pitches as well.

He has a slider and a changeup that both sit between 88 and 91 mph. Sanchez has also been working on a curveball since the team began practicing again in July that sits in the low 80’s.

“For a guy that young,” Rojas said, “he already knows what he’s doing on the mound.”

Rojas said Sanchez reminds him of two-time All-Star and 2014 National League strikeout leader Johnny Cueto. MLB Pipeline’s scouting report also comes with high expectations.

“As long as he stays healthy,” it reads, “he has the ingredients to become Miami’s best starter since the late Jose Fernandez.”

‘He has the talent’

Sanchez certainly impressed in his first start, the two home runs notwithstanding.

He needed 12 pitches to get through the first inning and just eight to retire the side in the second.

Sanchez struck out Eric Thames with changeups both times he faced him. This included a three-pitch sequence in the second inning when Sanchez threw an 88.4 mph slider low that Thames whiffed on and then went high with a 99.9 mph four-seam fastball that Thames fouled off before getting Thames to chase on a 92.1 mph changeup that went to almost the exact same spot as the slider.

His four-seam fastball that he threw 23 times? It averaged 98.5 mph and topped out at 100.4 mph. His changeup? Averaging 90.5 mph and maxing at 94.4 mph. His slider? Averaged 89.4 mph.

“Really good,” Mattingly said. “It’s fun to watch. It’s going to be fun to watch him grow.”

Sanchez battled to get through the fifth after four strong inning to begin his MLB career. After striking out Luis Garcia on three pitches, Sanchez gave up three consecutive hits — a Gomes single, the Robles home run and a Trea Turner infield single. With the go-ahead run at the plate and only one out, Sanchez forced Adam Eaton to fly out to left and Juan Soto to ground into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

And so ended Sanchez’s debut. The Marlins’ bullpen held the Nationals scoreless for the final two innings to secure the win.

“He’s got really good pitches,” said catcher Jorge Alfaro, who also came to Miami as part of the Realmuto trade and caught Sanchez’s final three innings after Cervelli left the game with a concussion. “I’m excited to see him pitch here. I know he has the talent and likes to compete.

“If he keeps doing that, he’ll have success in the big leagues.”

‘It’s the beginning’

Sanchez’s debut, while easily the most high-profile, is the latest in a long line of Marlins players to reach the big leagues this year.

Miami has now had a dozen player make their MLB debut. Eight are among the organization’s top-30 prospects. He joins outfielder Jesus Sanchez (No. 4), first baseman Lewin Diaz (No. 8) outfielder Harrison (No. 10), pitcher Nick Neidert (No. 11), pitcher Jorge Guzman (No. 24), pitcher Jordan Holloway (No. 25) and pitcher Alex Vesia (No. 30).

The others to reach the big leagues: infielder Eddy Alverez as well as pitchers Sterling Sharp, Humberto Mejia and Daniel Castano.

But none of them came with the hype that Sixto Sanchez did. None likely comes with the organizational impact that Sixto Sanchez has the potential to bring to this club long-term.

“You see these guys with great stuff,” Mattingly said. “It’s the beginning of it, and it’s nice to see where they’ll go.”

The Marlins saw it with Sandy Alcantara, who struggled with being aggressive on the mound but has since evolved into the team’s ace.

The hope is Sanchez can follow in Alcantara’s trajectory.

“He’s going to have the stuff,” Mattingly said, “but is he going to continue to get better? Is he going to continue to do all the things he needs to do to be a top-line guy?

“Honestly, for the great ones, tomorrow starts Day 1 of their next start. So it’s whatever that routine becomes. It’s not like, ‘Four days off and I pitch again.’ Tomorrow is the first day of his next start. The great pitchers, that’s what they have. That’s what they do.”