Game Thread: July 13 - Toronto Blue Jays (34-58) @ New York Yankees (58-31) - 1:05 PM

Sanchez is in his 10th season as a professional. In 9 of those 10 seasons, he has not profiled as a starting pitcher in the majors because he does not have/has not had sufficient control of his pitches in order to get people to do something other than sit on his fastball. And his fastball as a starter is not good enough to be used when opponents just sit on it. Sanchez has had the profile of a reliever since rookie ball and he’s never developed his pitches beyond that.

2016 was a fluke. It is the exception to Sanchez’s career, not the normal.

Go back to 2015, Sanchez had similar stats as a starter as he has had in 2017, 2018, and 2019. 15.0 K% and 13.2 BB%. 5 BB/9 is the norm for Aaron Sanchez. His performance in 2019 is Aaron Sanchez literally being Aaron Sanchez. It’s not a health problem. This is the pitcher he has always profiled to be; horrible control, resulting in heavy reliance on his fastball in predictable counts, and therefore bad results.

Sanchez should have been put in the bullpen to start 2018. The Jays just refuse to stop chasing the fantasy that he’ll suddenly be a different pitcher. And Buck & Pat refuse to call it out and instead keep ignoring objective facts.

/r/Torontobluejays Thread Parent