Angel Sanchez

WTM’S PLAYER PROFILE

2011
A:  8-4-0, 2.82 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 99.0 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 7.6 K/9

The Dodgers started Sanchez off in the rotation in low A and he pitched well, with decent walk and K rates.  Baseball America rated him the Dodgers’ 12th best prospect after the season, a high ranking for an international player in his first pro season.

2012
A+:  6-12-0, 6.58 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 130.0 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 7.1 K/9

The high-offense California League was a much tougher assignment for Sanchez.  He had especially severe problems with gopher balls, allowing a HR exactly once every four and a half innings.  He fell completely apart in the second half, with an ERA of 8.75.  BA still ranked him 25th in the Dodgers’ system.

2013
A (LAD):  2-7-0, 4.88 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 72.0 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 8.8 K/9
A+ (LAD):  0-0-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 9.0 IP, 2.0 BB/9, 12.0 K/9
A+ (Mia):  4-3-0, 3.22 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 50.1 IP, 3.8 BB/9, 7.5 K/9

The Dodgers sent Sanchez back to low A and he didn’t really pitch any better there, considering that he was out of the hitting-mad Cal League.  He pitched better in two starts after a promotion back to high A, then got included in the trade for Ricky Nolasco.  He pitched much better in high A with the Marlins.  BA ranked him 16th in the Miami system after the season.

2014
A+ (CWS):  1-1-0, 4.26 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 12.2 IP, 2.1 BB/9, 6.4 K/9
AA (Mia):  0-8-0, 6.88 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 52.1 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 5.2 K/9
AA (TB):  0-1-0, 8.00 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 9.0 IP, 2.0 BB/9, 6.0 K/9
AA (CWS):  1-2-0, 6.60 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 15.0 IP, 3.0 BB/9, 5.4 K/9
AA (Pgh):  0-2-0, 4.32 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 33.1 IP, 2.7 BB/9, 5.7 K/9

Miami moved Sanchez up to AA and he struggled badly.  The Marlins removed him from their 40-man roster and the Rays claimed him.  After just two bad starts, the Rays designated Sanchez for assignment when they claimed Cory Burns from Texas.  This time the White Sox claimed him.  The Sox sent Sanchez initially to high A, where he had one good and one bad start, then moved him up to AA, where he struggled over three starts.  Chicago dfa’d Sanchez less than a month after acquiring him and the Pirates claimed him.  He didn’t pitch very well in six games, five starts, with Altoona, although he wasn’t as bad as he’d been in his earlier AA outings.  Opponents hit .303 against him and he had some gopher ball problems, allowing five in 33 innings.

2015
AA:  8-1-0, 2.79 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 77.1 IP, 2.2 BB/9, 5.7 K/9
AAA:  5-1-0, 2.55 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 60.0 IP, 2.2 BB/9, 7.5 K/9

During the off-season, the Pirates designated Sanchez for assignment and he cleared waivers.  He returned to Altoona and made significant progress.  He showed much better command and walked very few, although he also didn’t strike out many.  In mid-June the Pirates moved him up to AAA and he pitched even better, holding opponents to a .217 average and improving his K rate.  Unfortunately, he came out of an early August start with elbow pain and eventually had Tommy John surgery.

2016
INJURED

Sanchez missed the season due to the surgery.  Until the injury in 2015, he figured to be a strong candidate for a September callup.  He was eligible for the Rule 5 draft and wasn’t selected, unsurprisingly.  The Pirates released him in March 2016 and then immediately re-signed him, apparently as a way of reworking his contract to reflect the fact that he was going to spend the 2016 season rehabbing.  He also re-signed with the Pirates for 2017.

2017
AAA:  3-5-1, 3.74 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 55.1 IP, 2.4 BB/9, 10.6 K/9
MLB:  1-0-0, 8.76 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 12.1 IP, 0.7 BB/9, 7.3 K/9

Not only was Sanchez healthy in camp, he was throwing harder than ever, which sometimes happens after Tommy John.  In one- and two-inning outings, he was sitting at 96-97 mph, with a low-90s cutter.  He opened the season in the Indianapolis bullpen and pitched well there, better than his ERA indicates, as shown by his xFIP of 2.88.  In fact, if you believe in xFIP, he pitched better than Edgar Santana and Dovydas Neverauskas.  He struck out a lot of hitters, didn’t walk many, and had a good groundball rate of 54.1%.  He was tough on right-handed hitters, holding them to a .646 OPS.  Left-handed hitters did much better against him, at .795.  The Pirates called Sanchez up amidst an extensive bullpen reshuffling in late August.  He had major problems initially with gopher balls, giving up five in his first 7.1 IP.  (His xFIP, which normalizes for HR rate, was less than half his ERA at 4.23.)  The struggles got him relegated to forgotten status; at one point he went 16 days without pitching.  He finally got into two more games at the end of the season and pitched very well.

Sanchez is one of three relief prospects — the others being Dovydas Neverauskas and Edgar Santana — who offer higher ceilings, without quite being blue-chip prospects, than the sort of low-upside veterans who’ve increasingly fascinated the Pirates in the last couple years.  Each of the three has two options left, so the Pirates have the opportunity to sort through them and see who comes through . . . assuming they’re willing to give them opportunities.