The Toronto Blue Jays’ fan base started buzzing when top prospect Aaron Sanchez was promoted to triple-A Thursday morning.
Sanchez posted relatively pedestrian numbers throughout his 14 starts with double-A New Hampshire, but the 21-year-old right-hander caught the eye of the Blue Jays brass during his last two appearances.
“The organization thinks he’s pitching good enough so we wanted to see him at the next level and give him some experience,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Thursday morning on Baseball Central. “It’s the right move and one we’re excited about.”
Now that Sanchez is reporting to the highest minor-league level, the Blue Jays have to make a determination on how to handle their prized arm for the remainder of the 2014 season.
Here are four options Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos can consider:
Keep him in triple-A
As excited as Gibbons and the fan base are about Sanchez, he is far from a finished product. First and foremost, he must improve his fastball command.
Control was an issue for Sanchez in double-A as he walked 40 batters in 66.1 innings. That amounts to a walk rate of 5.5 per nine innings, which would be the highest of any starter in the major leagues (Ubaldo Jimenez has the highest BB/9 in the majors with 5.14). Don’t forget that Sanchez’s alarming walk rate was coming against double-A hitters.
It’s also worth considering that Sanchez has never exceeded 90.1 innings in a season as a pro. He has dealt with shoulder issues in the past, so the club will want to operate cautiously.
Showcase him for a trade
Once the news of Sanchez’s promotion broke, there was a prevailing thought on social media that the Blue Jays may be showcasing Sanchez in order to acquire pitching help. While that does make sense in theory, Gibbons quickly shot that notion down. With so much information and scouting available, the need to showcase a player as highly-touted as Sanchez doesn’t really exist.
While it’s possible that the team could consider moving him in order to add an upper-echelon starter such as James Shields or David Price, the Jays do not appear to be leaning towards that scenario.
“Everyone is well aware that he’s our top prospect,” Gibbons said. “So down the road if Alex was trying to acquire a guy, he would have to be a centrepiece but maybe you don’t need to acquire a guy and he can be that guy himself if things work out well for him down there in triple-A. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Bring him up as a starter
As Gibbons stated above, the possibility of Sanchez coming up later in the season as a starting pitcher is not out of the question. He has an electric arm with arguably the best stuff in the entire Blue Jays organization.
It was noticeable during the spring when Sportsnet broadcaster Buck Martinez said that he would’ve started the season with Sanchez as the No. 4 starter out of camp.
“He’s got the best stuff in camp,” Martinez told Tim & Sid in March. “It’s not even close.”
For Sanchez to progress to the MLB level, he’ll need to improve his performance. His strikeout rate has been around the MLB average (7.8 per nine innings), and the more concerning number is his strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.43), which isn’t good enough to warrant a major-league call up. This will be a focus in Buffalo where he’ll make multiple starts with the Bisons.
The Blue Jays are likely to explore the trade market to add a veteran pitcher, but if they are unable to find a trade partner, Sanchez could be considered as a late-season boost to the rotation. Such a move might be especially appealing since the team has young starters such as Drew Hutchison and Marcus Stroman, whose innings may need to be managed as the season progresses.
As things stand today, Sanchez wouldn’t be first on the depth chart if an injury occurred to one of the team’s starting five. The Jays have Liam Hendriks and Sean Nolin, who both have major-league experience, in Buffalo, which means there won’t be an organizational rush to get Sanchez to the big-leagues.
Overall, it comes down to performance and Sanchez will need to earn a spot to be considered in that role.
Bring him up as a reliever
The option of Sanchez coming up later in the season as a reliever hadn’t been discussed publicly until Gibbons addressed the possibility on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. While teams have avoided this route in recent years, Chris Sale, David Price, and Adam Wainwright all began their careers with stints in the bullpen before developing into frontline starters in the majors. Both Price and Wainwright played essential relief roles for teams that appeared in the World Series.
Sanchez coming up as a relief pitcher could be a possibility if Toronto remains in the playoff race — especially if Toronto’s rotation holds up or acquires a veteran arm down the line.
Ben Nicholson-Smith wrote a month ago about the St. Louis Cardinals and how they have routinely used this practice with their young pitchers. Not a bad organization to mimic. Toronto originally took this approach with Stroman before the team stretched him out as a starter to replace Dustin McGowan.
This may be the most appealing approach if Sanchez shows that he is capable of commanding his fastball. As the organization’s top prospect, he’s someone Blue Jays personnel and fans will be monitoring closely.
