ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Forget the Aaron Sanchez you remember starting games for the Toronto Blue Jays last year. He’s so much different than that guy, physically, mentally, and moving further and further away from his bubble-wrap buildup in the minor-leagues by the day. Where he’d be at right now if the reins had been eased years ago is an interesting question to debate. But Sanchez is leaving no doubt about where he belongs, his season debut Tuesday an exclamation point in the face of lingering non-believers.
The 23-year-old looked like an ace in the making over seven dominant innings of one-run ball during a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays decided by a replay review of the new slide rule. Logan Forsythe’s two-run homer in the eighth off Brett Cecil ended the left-hander’s record-tying streak of 38 straight outings without an earned run, and the final outs came when Jose Bautista was called for runner’s interference.
Edwin Encarnacion hit a grounder to third with the bases loaded and as Bautista slid into second, Forsythe made a throwing error that allowed two runs to score. But replay officials ruled Bautista deliberately interfered with Forsythe and also didn’t make any attempt to stay on the bag, both violations of the rule.
Though the end was bitter, if Sanchez keeps pitching like this the Blue Jays will be happy far more often than not.
“I felt good out there,” said Sanchez. “At the start it was a little shaky there and I was trying to find some things, but I think from the fourth inning on I felt like I was in cruise control out there. It was more about executing pitches than anything and I felt I did a good job of that.”
Leveraging the extra strength from a workout plan that added 23 pounds over the winter, Sanchez was in complete command of his high 90s fastball, buckled knees with a devastating curveball and caught batters in between with his changeup.
The gains with his curveball were especially evident in the third, when he worked out of a runners on second and third with one out jam in the third by getting Logan Morrison to hit a weak comebacker on a first pitch hook, and twice got Evan Longoria to helicopter over the pitch for a strikeout.
The sequence was “absolutely,” his most pivotal of the game.
“You have runners on second and third in that situation with one out and it’s still 0-0,” he said. “My thing is execute it exactly the way I wanted to. The comebacker is a bonus, I was trying to keep the ball on the ground, and at that point anything can happen with two outs. Good day for me, for sure.”
The lone run against him came on a massive Corey Dickerson homer, but the Rays made precious little solid contact beyond that. Sanchez induced eight groundballs and popup along with three fly balls.
Russell Martin gifted him an out when he made Brad Miller look silly for trying to steal second in the second – not that Sanchez needed much help.
Stronger now, he’s better able to control his long limbs during his delivery and doesn’t have to fight as hard to find his release point. That helped him throw 64 of his 91 pitches for strikes, a far cry from his season debut last year, when only 34 of his 61 pitches were in the zone and he allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks over 3.1 innings against the Baltimore Orioles. He walked 32 batters in his first 41 innings and the debate over when to move him to the bullpen raged.
Though he stabilized, a lat injury suffered during his best start of the season, an eight-inning gem against the Houston Astros on June 5, halted his progress, likely the product of having his work closely limited in the minor-leagues. Sanchez’s body simply wasn’t prepared for the workload being a starter required.
Another factor was the Blue Jays’ decision to promote Sanchez to the big-leagues in July 2014 and use him as a reliever. Had he closed out the season at triple-A, continuing to refine his curveball and changeup while building up his physical base, maybe things play out differently. But needs at the big-league level can sometimes supersede development, he was brought up to pitch out of the bullpen, which a good way to break in pitchers.
“It’s a team-oriented game but you’ve got to balance the individual’s needs and long-term goals and long-term needs,” said pitching coach Pete Walker. “It’s always a difficult position to be in, and he seems to be the poster child for it right now in this organization. Looking back, are there things you would do differently? I’m not so sure. Moving forward, we’ve got him in the position I think he’s destined to be in, he has some good experience behind him, he has some innings behind him. Is it the ideal amount of innings? Probably not, but I still think he’s learned a lot in the process and moving forward he’s in a very good position to pitch deep into ballgames and build up innings over the next few years.”
Sanchez certainly showed that.