DUNEDIN, Fla. – By now we know that Aaron Sanchez can light up the radar gun for an inning or two at a time. He averaged 97 m.p.h. on a fastball he threw nearly nine times out of every 10 pitches in 2014.
But as the right-hander auditions for a spot in the Toronto Blue Jays’ rotation, he’s up against a new challenge: integrating off-speed pitches regularly to keep big league hitters off-balance as the game wears on.
Facing the Pittsburgh Pirates for the second consecutive time Sunday, Sanchez was up to the challenge. Not only did he pitch three scoreless innings with three strikeouts, one walk and no hits or runs allowed, he did so while mixing in “a ton” of off-speed pitches.
“He was pretty damn good. More consistent in the zone,” manager John Gibbons said. “Good fastball. I thought he looked a lot better than the last time we faced these guys. So that’s encouraging.”
It was a marked improvement over his first outing, a start in which he allowed two runs on four hits in 1.1 innings. This time catcher Dioner Navarro made a point of calling for plenty of curves and change-ups, and came away impressed with the 22-year-old’s breaking pitches.
“He did a great job,” Navarro said. “We used them early in the count, we used them late in the count.”
Sanchez’s curve stood out to Navarro, who said the right-hander’s change-up remains a work in progress.
“His curve is in much better shape than his change-up right now,” Navarro said. But refining the change-up may mostly be a matter of practice.
“Repetition, repetition, repetition,” Navarro continued. “Keep throwing it. Don’t run away from it. Keep throwing it and eventually he’ll get it, because when it’s good he can be devastating.”
Sanchez threw approximately 40 pitches, touching 96 m.p.h. in just his second start since the Blue Jays moved him to the bullpen last July. Like Navarro, he believes more repetitions will let him refine his secondary pitches.
“I think the more mound time and the more experience that I get with me throwing those pitches, I think that’s what I need mostly,” Sanchez said.
The competition between Sanchez, Daniel Norris and Marco Estrada for the final spot in Toronto’s rotation is less than a week old, so it’s too early to say which direction the team will take. That process could take weeks. But it would be difficult to go with Estrada if the Blue Jays’ top young arms dominate this spring, and if Norris pitches as well as the Blue Jays think he can, they could double up on dynamic young arms by starting Norris and using Sanchez in relief.
Even if Sanchez ends up in the Blue Jays‘ bullpen, he’ll likely need to rely more heavily on breaking pitches. While a few elite relievers like Jake McGee, Kenley Jansen, Zach Britton throw fastballs more than 90 percent of the time, they’re the exception. Most pitchers benefit from secondary offerings that keep hitters off balance.
Ultimately, Sanchez says the decision of whether to use him as a starter or as a reliever won’t be too difficult. After all, he’s in the big leagues on a team that expects to contend either way.
“It’s a decision that’s probably not a tough one, but at the end of the day they’re the ones making the decisions and I’m going to be the one, whether it’s starting or closing, I’m going to be happy,” he said. “So to me it doesn’t matter.”
It matters a whole lot to the Blue Jays, who must ensure Sanchez produces in the short term without diminishing his chances of realizing his potential as an impact starter later in his career.
“He’s going to be a good one,” Gibbons said. “Now it’s just figuring out where he ends up.”
Chances are, those decisions won’t be made until much later in the spring. For now Sanchez has something to build on.
