ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jesus Sanchez vowed to keep working on his defence after a pair of costly defensive miscues under Tropicana Field’s troublesome roof left him feeling “embarrassed” that he let down his team.
Speaking with his reporters Thursday morning, the Toronto Blue Jays outfielder explained that he lost a first-inning fly ball by Junior Caminero as it passed through the C-Ring catwalk hanging over the outfield wall, and had a fourth-inning flare by Richie Palacios disappear on him in the lights rimming the stadium.
Sanchez, predominantly a right-fielder through seven seasons in the big-leagues, said he’s working to adjust to the different angles and reads off the bat in left field. Of his 601 games in the outfield, 415 have been in right, 117 in left — 38 of them this season — and 97 in centre.
“I know I need to improve on my defence because I'm not used to playing left field and I'm going to make the adjustment because I'm athletic enough to play the left field,” said Sanchez. “I know I'm going to be there and the next time I'm going to be better.”
Based on Outs Above Average, a metric that measures plays made against positional peers, Sanchez has rated among the worst defensive outfielders in the majors at minus-7, with only five others scoring lower. Strangely, he’s at minus-6 OAA in right and just minus-1 in left with nearly even innings at both spots this season.
Counterbalancing the defensive end is that he entered Thursday’s play with a .794 OPS against right-handed pitchers, second on the Blue Jays only to Alejandro Kirk’s .796, among players with more than 25 plate appearances. His eight homers versus righties are third on the team, although he’s hitting only .161/.333/.323 in 39 plate appearances over 14 games since returning from a right ankle sprain July 31.
“I’m not worried about my swing, I know my swing's always going to be there, I'm going to be good (at the plate),” said Sanchez. “I'm trying to make the adjustment on my defence because if I improve my defence, I'm good to be good. I always trust my hitting.”
Sanchez does regular early work with first base and outfield coach Mark Budzinski, aiming to improve his reads and routes to the ball and manager John Schneider said the Blue Jays will continue supporting the 28-year-old.
“If he didn't work at it, you get upset. He's working at it. He understands that every out is important, every out is precious, but you got move on to today, you know what I mean?” said Schneider. “The more you harp on it or try to dissect it, it's like, 'OK, you're making somebody feel worse.' So kind of just put your arms around him as much as you can, myself, Bud, everyone, teammates and say, ‘Hey, man, just move on to the next thing.’”
3:28