Sixto Sanchez may be the next big Phillies pitcher (Courtesy of Baseball Betsy)
By Jack Fritz, Sports Talk Philly editor
In their midseason prospect rankings, Baseball Prospectus ranked Phillies pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez as their No. 18 overall prospect and No. 3 overall pitching prospect.
Here's what Baseball Prospectus had to say about Sanchez:
Fast-forward to midseason 2017 and, well, that’s not really the profile on him anymore. Sanchez has made nine starts in the Low-A South Atlantic League, and we’ve had three sets of eyes (Jeffrey Paternostro, Greg Goldstein, and myself) combining to get to at least five of them. He is now touching 101 with the four-seamer and 99 with the two-seamer. He’s sat as high as 98-100 for a few innings when he lets the regular fastballs go, but often varies speed to get extra movement, showing rare pitchability for the age. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve written that he throws the kitchen sink, and think that his cutter might be distinct enough to the two normal fastballs to have its own label and grade. He’s developed some of the best fastball command and manipulation I’ve ever seen at the level. His curve isn’t always there for him, and he has an interesting habit of spamming individual secondary pitches for an inning or two in any given start, so it doesn’t always show up, but it flashes as a plus-plus pitch with two-plane break when he’s got it. There’s also a change that we think should consistently get to at least average but has flashed nearly as high as the curve, albeit less frequently, a slider that is pretty cool when it shows up but has only shown up in about half of my looks, and enough variants on the existing pitches that Jeffrey theorized he was throwing up to seven offerings in his look. He’s as crazy athletic as you’d expect for a recently-converted shortstop, and his mechanics are free and repeatable.
That's pretty high praise for an 18-year-old that still isn't allowed to pitch more than five innings per game, and failed to crack the top 100 of Baseball Prospectus' preseason rankings.
Still, the praise is warranted for Sanchez who has flashed some major, ace-like potential in Lakewood this season. On the most recent edition of the 80-08 Podcast, Tim Kelly and myself both said that we believed that Sanchez was the most important player currently in the Phillies organization. For those looking for who the potential No. 1 starter in the organization could be, Sanchez is probably the best bet.
The command of the fastball is what has me most excited. If he can consistently locate that fastball, it will make everything else in his repertoire that much tougher to hit. A lot of young, vibrant arms struggle with fastball location, especially at the speeds that Sanchez throws them at (see: Velasquez, Vince). Sanchez, at a very young age, seems to have that control down, which is exciting.
Sanchez is quickly becoming a pretty hot name in the industry. Him and 2016 No. 1 overall pick Mickey Moniak figure to be one and two on most lists evaluating the Phillies prospects after this season.
