TORONTO – The last time Aaron Sanchez started a big-league game, 180 friends and family members were there to see him. Many had made the trip from his hometown of Barstow Calif., to Anaheim, where the Blue Jays were playing.
Sanchez’s guests knew that he was in the midst of bouncing back from a frustrating, blister-filled 2017 season. What they didn’t know was that a different kind of finger injury threatened to sideline Sanchez once again.
Before that June 21 start, Sanchez had caught the index finger of his pitching hand in the handle of his 50-Lb. suitcase. When the bag started falling, his finger got stuck.
“It all happened like that,” Sanchez recalled in the dugout at Rogers Centre Wednesday. “My knuckle got super-fat. I pitched that day and it probably didn’t help, but it was the first time I was going to pitch in front of my family as a professional and I wanted to see what I could do.”
More than two months later, Sanchez is poised to return to the Blue Jays’ rotation Saturday, but there were moments this summer when he wondered if his entire season might be in jeopardy.
“Honestly I didn’t think I was going to be back with how much time I’ve missed the last few years,” Sanchez said. “When you’re on the DL as long as you are the last few years, it’s just tough. You just take it day by day — I know it’s a cliché, but it’s what you have to do. Now I’m back and I’m ready to go.”
Sanchez will throw a side session at Rogers Centre Thursday and assuming it goes well he’ll start Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“I don’t think there’s going to be any issue,” manager John Gibbons said. “I don’t think anybody does.”
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After sustaining the finger contusion, Sanchez’s finger was so swollen that he had trouble bending it. While there was no structural damage, the finger didn’t respond well to throwing at first, so the right-hander took time off.
Then, around the all-star break, Sanchez’s finger had progressed to the point that he could throw every other day. Gradually the swelling reduced enough that he could throw every day, but by then he had missed so much time that he had to build back up slowly.
“You don’t know how long it’s going to take,” he said. “If you try to rush it back you could make things worse, so I tried to listen to my body, listen to my finger.”
Sanchez has now made three rehab starts, the most recent of which came at double-A New Hampshire Monday. He threw more balls than strikes in each of his last two outings, walking four each time. Those are potential warning sign for the Blue Jays, but Sanchez says he’s most concerned about developing feel for his pitches when rehabbing.
“I don’t get attached to numbers in rehab starts,” he said. “I’m out there to work on what I need to work on. I’m throwing change-ups and curveballs in counts I would never (normally) throw them.”
“He’s going to walk guys in his career,” Gibbons added. “It’s just his style of pitching. He’s got great movement.”
While working his way back to the majors, Sanchez thought of some advice Gibbons shared in spring training: when the games don’t count, use your secondary stuff as often as necessary.
“It’s not going to just magically come, so you’ve got to throw it,” he said. “That’s what rehab’s about. As long as I make 87 pitches and I’m pain-free I’ve accomplished what I wanted to.”
If Sanchez returns as expected against the Phillies, there’s still time for him to make six or seven starts this season. It’s not what he envisioned entering the year, but he’s looking forward to the challenge.
“I’m prepared,” he said. “I’m ready to go. I’ve got work to do.”
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