Marlins put trust in Sanchez, and early results are positive
The smile on his face says it all.
Jesus Sanchez had just sent a Kyle Gibson sinker to the warning track in left-center field at loanDepot park on Thursday and hustled his way around the basepaths. His helmet fell off as he sprinted to third base, sliding head first. As he got to his knees, he quickly lifted his head and pointed to his dugout, bearing a grin from ear to ear.
This is the Jesus Sanchez the Miami Marlins have been wanting to see.
Relaxed, poised and confident at the plate.
Stepping up defensively as he mans center field, a position he has barely played since starting in professional baseball.
And having success as he takes advantage of his first true opportunity to be an everyday player at the MLB level.
“I’m having fun,” Sanchez said Friday, that smile still present. “A lot of fun.”
‘FAILURE BOTHERS HIM’
Fun sometimes eluded Sanchez early in his MLB career.
His internal expectations got the better of him when he got the news of a lifetime in August 2020 that he was making his MLB debut, a little more than a year after the Marlins acquired him in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. Sanchez went just 1 for 25 with four walks and 11 strikeouts in his 10 games with the Marlins that year.
He showed progress when getting called up in mid-June last season, hitting .251 with 14 home runs and 36 RBI over 64 games.
So far this season, his first on an MLB roster from the onset? Heading into Saturday, Sanchez has a team-high five runs scored, is tied for the team lead with two home runs, and is second on the team among hitters with at least 20 plate appearances in batting average (.310), slugging (.690) and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.023).
“Failure bothers him,” Marlins bench coach James Rowson said. “You can tell it bothers him because he expects himself to be a good player. He knows what kind of player he is, and he’s going to keep growing. But when I watch him, a guy that can use the whole field and drive it to all fields with power are special players in this game. The more he plays, the better off he is going to continue to be.”
Most of his early hits have come in key situations, with Sanchez either driving in or scoring the Marlins’ gamewinning run in each of their first three wins.
His first hit of the season was a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning of Miami’s 2-1 win against the San Francisco Giants on April 9.
“I’ve been battling every at-bat,” Sanchez said after that win. “It shows what I bring every day to the field. I’m always going to be fighting at the plate. At the end of the day, that’s a success and the results come with it.”
His triple against the Phillies on Thursday was his highlight play individually, but it was his fourth-inning single that dropped in front of Kyle Schwarber that proved to be the difference-maker in their 4-3 win.
“I could probably have three, four, five at-bats during a game — even six — and I don’t know which one is going to be the decisive one,” Sanchez said. “I have to take every at-bat with the same responsibility and effort.”
And then on Friday, Sanchez drove in Miami’s first run with a first-inning double, scored their second on a Jesus Aguilar single and added a fifthinning RBI triple in a 7-1 rout of the Phillies.
“Just make the swing,” Sanchez said. “Just execute against the pitch and make the swing.”
In between, he also swatted a pair of nodoubt home runs in the Marlins’ loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday.
Sanchez said having protection behind him in the lineup — with first baseman Jesus Aguilar and right fielder Avisail Garcia typically following him in the heart of Miami’s order — has helped him feel more comfortable at the plate.
“Mostly Aguilar. Having him behind me is somebody that gives me the trust that if I get on base, I know he’s going to bring me in,” Sanchez said. “So that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been swinging, getting on base and trusting that wherever I am, he’s going to bring me in.”
Aguilar said he understands how the threat of an improved lineup can benefit certain hitters — in this case Sanchez — but the first baseman is also adamant that Sanchez’s success stems from more than just having other good hitters around him.
“He’s confident right now,” Aguilar said. “He believes in himself.”
ADJUSTING TO CENTER FIELD
That belief goes beyond just Sanchez’s production at the plate.
It extends to his role in the field.
The Marlins in spring training tabbed Sanchez as their primary center fielder after signing a pair of corner outfielders in Garcia and Jorge Soler to boost their offense.
While Sanchez never played center field in the big leagues before this season and had just eight starts there in the upper minors, the Marlins were confident that he could make the transition based on some of his analytical metrics.
“He gets really good jumps on balls and he has good routes,” said Marlins first base coach Keith Johnson, who also works with the team’s outfielders. “We’ve been really focusing on finishing plays and smoothing out the back end of plays with him because he gets to a lot of balls but it’s about how he finishes them. Sometimes, people look at that and think he’s not as good out there as he really is.”
Another point of emphasis: Johnson, and the Marlins as a whole, aren’t necessarily looking for Sanchez to be a Kevin Kiermaier or a Harrison Bader on defense. The priority for Sanchez and the outfielders as a whole is “doing the things that we need to do to prevent runs and get as many outs as possible.”
“If you make a mistake,” Johnson said, “just minimize the magnitude of the mistake and we’ll figure all that stuff out.”
Sanchez is getting more and more acclimated to the position with each inning he’s out there.
“I’m feeling very comfortable,” Sanchez said. “It’s like I’m playing right field again. It’s all about repetition.”
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
Joey Wendle knew his timing at the plate was close to where he wanted to be when the Miami Marlins finished spring training.
His preseason success has translated to the regular season.
Wendle has hits in all six games he has appeared in heading into Saturday’s contest against the Philadelphia Phillies. His .368 batting average leads the team among players with at least 20 plate appearances, as does his .400 on-base percentage. Two of his seven hits have been doubles.
Add to that his Gold Glove caliber defense and ability to play second base, third and shortstop, and the Marlins are happy with the early returns they have received from Wendle, whom they acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays this offseason for outfielder prospect Kameron Misner.
Wendle’s success at the plate, in part, can be attributed to his early plate discipline and ability to make contact. He has whiffed on only 4.9 percent of the pitches he has swung at so far this season and has just two strikeouts through his first 20 trips to the plate.
“Joey’s a baseball player; he’s an adult baseball player,” manager Don Mattingly said. “He knows where to be. He knows how to play. He’s ready for every situation. It, to me, ends up being a great move for us because it gives us versatility. It gets us the guy that plays with some toughness, attitude and been on teams that have won. Yeah, it’s good to have Joey over here.”
200 KS FOR ROGERS
Trevor Rogers’ first strikeout on Saturday, a swinging strikeout of J.T Realmuto in the first inning, was the 200th of his MLB career. With that, he became the first left-handed pitcher in MLB history to strike out 200 hitters in his first 34 career games (all coming as starts) while maintaining a career ERA under 3.25, the mark he had entering Saturday’s game. Eleven other pitchers have accomplished the feat, all of them being right-handed.
Rogers is looking to build off his 2021 season in which he finished as the runner-up for National League Rookie of the Year. The 24-year-old gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts over five innings in his first start on Sunday against the Giants.
“Just keep building,” Mattingly said pregame Saturday of his expectations for Rogers as the season progresses. “We were pretty happy with the way he threw the ball [in his first start].”
LINING UP
With Miami facing a left-handed starting pitcher on Saturday in the Phillies’ Ranger Suarez, the Marlins rolled out a lineup exclusively of right-handed hitters.
Brian Anderson replaced Wendle at third base. Jon Berti replaced
Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second. And Bryan De La Cruz replaced Jesus Sanchez in center field.
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126