Miami Marlins’ Sixto Sanchez is rehabbing in Jupiter. A look at his post-surgery progress
After a lost year, Sixto Sanchez is at peace.
In a five-and-a-half minute in-house interview, the Miami Marlins’ star pitching prospect — ranked as the No. 4 player in their system and No. 41 in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline — opened up about the obstacles he faced during a 2021 season in which he never took the field, a season marred by a shoulder injury that ultimately required season-ending surgery.
His focus has shifted to the future, his eventual return next season.
“For me, it’s very important because I missed one year that I didn’t want to miss,” Sanchez told Marlins broadcasting manager Kyle Sielaff in a video interview posted on the team’s YouTube page Sunday, “but after realizing I was going to miss the year, I started preparing myself mentally to work hard and do things right every day so when I return in 2022 I’m ready to help my team and work hard together so we can all win.”
Sanchez, 23, impressed in a shortened MLB debut season in 2020 but never had the chance to get off the ground in 2021. His spring training was chopped up, delayed first by a visa issue and then halted briefly because of a false positive COVID-19 test.
He threw just 124 pitches over eight innings in three spring training games, so the Marlins had him start the season in Jacksonville at their alternate training site, where the top reserves spent the first month before the minor-league season began.
The major setback then took place on March 31, the eve of the 2021 season, when Sanchez reported “slight discomfort” in his throwing shoulder after throwing during a simulated game in Jacksonville. Sanchez was originally scheduled to throw five innings or 75 pitches. He threw two-plus innings when he started feeling the discomfort. He was removed from the game as an “extra precaution.” An MRI later revealed mild inflammation in the back of his right shoulder.
He spent about a month and a half throwing from flat ground before throwing first bullpen session on May 25 — only to experience more shoulder discomfort after the session.
The Marlins announced July 5 that Sanchez would undergo season-ending surgery. The operation, which was to repair a capsular tear in his right shoulder and clean out the backside of the joint, took place July 20.
A little more than four months since the surgery, Sanchez said he feels “100 percent” now. He’s rehabbing at the team’s spring training complex in Jupiter, with the video interview showing clips of Sanchez in the weight room but nothing of him throwing off a mound just yet.
The Marlins anticipate Sanchez will be ready for spring training.
Sanchez spoke as if that is the case on his end as well.
He’s ready to build on what he showcased during his debut year when helped the Marlins clinch a playoff spot during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Sanchez made seven regular-season starts that year, pitching to a 3.46 ERA with 33 strikeouts against 11 walks in 39 innings. Opponents hit .250 against him.
Sanchez has a five-pitch mix, headlined by a four-seam fastball that hits triple digits and a changeup that had a 28-percent swing-and-miss rate and accounted for 18 of his 33 strikeouts in 2020.
Sanchez’s return would bolster Miami’s already impressive and young starting pitching depth, a group that already includes Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Pablo Lopez, Edward Cabrera, Jesus Luzardo and Eleiser Hernandez.
“For 2022, you are going to see a different Sixto with the same pitches but more experience because I proved myself in 2020 with those seven starts,” Sanchez said. “I’m coming in more focused, to work hitters better and give the best out of me.”
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