Marlins put their trust in Jesus Sanchez to be their center fielder. It’s paying off early
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, a grin bearing his face 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 over 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? 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’ game-winning 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 fifth-inning 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 no-doubt 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 extends 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 Avisail 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 Sanchez 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.”
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