How World Baseball Classic gave Marlins’ Sanoja confidence entering second MLB season
The moment is still fresh in Javier Sanoja’s memory.
It has been almost a month since he rounded the bases, arms stretched wide open and high in the sky as he took the final steps to home plate to score the game-winning run for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic final against the United States. That Sanoja, a 23-year-old utility player with one full year of MLB experience on a roster filled with All-Stars and MLB veterans, was in that position is something he doesn’t take for granted.
“Just being there around meeting all those players, it’s something that I was dreaming to do for many years,” Sanoja said from his locker, where two Venezuelan flags hang with pride on either side of the stall. “Just being able to achieve that, it’s just the boost of confidence that goes to the roof. It just motivates you to do better.”
It’s also something that has fueled him since returning to the Miami Marlins.
Sanoja finally feels like he belongs in the big leagues. He won a Gold Glove as a rookie last year. He made the most of his limited time on the field for his home country in the World Baseball Classic.
And now, he’s showing the Marlins that he’s worthy of potentially being an everyday player.
Sanoja enters the Marlins’ road game Saturday against the Detroit Tigers with a .371 batting average and .846 on-base-plus-slugging mark. His 13 total hits and seven RBI are third on the team. His three doubles are tied for third. He has five multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games in this early stretch.
“He’s just good,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “This is probably when he’s at his best. He’s slashing those line drives all over the place, and the contact ability has always been something that he’s had. It’s a real superpower of his. Versus right, versus left, I trust the at-bat Javy’s going to get. Love the times when you have runners [on] third and less than two outs, [because] you feel really good that the ball is going to move forward and you have a chance for good things to happen.”
His early production at the plate, proven versatility in the field and the Marlins’ current roster situation create a recipe for Sanoja to get expanded playing time and show he can potentially handle an increased workload.
McCullough knows he can play Sanoja just about anywhere in the field. As a rookie in 2025, Sanoja made 26 starts at third base, 20 starts at second base, 16 in left field, 10 in center field and nine at shortstop. His versatility allows McCullough to place him just about anywhere and shift him around the field to multiple positions in the same game in order to maximize his lineup while minimizing any potential defensive dropoff.
Sanoja has primarily played third base this season, with seven of his nine starts coming there, but his last two starts came in center field on Thursday (to give normal starter Jakob Marsee his first day off from the field) and left field on Friday.
More playing time could come for Sanoja in left field in the immediate future, especially against right-handed hitting, following Griffin Conine’s left hamstring tear that has him on the injured list and potentially on the path to surgery. McCullough likes to platoon with his lineups and has left-handed-hitting Graham Pauley as an option at third base, which frees up Sanoja to fill any other spot that might be needed when the opponent has a right-handed starting pitcher on the mound.
“His ability to play all over the field and as good a player as he is, it makes it easy,” McCullough said. “I don’t worry as much with him, the right, left. He gets so many opportunities, whether starting or coming into games, because of just the versatility and the skill level.”
And while Sanoja is still coming into his own at the big-league level, he is getting the attention of his teammates and his countrymen.
Eugenio Suarez, who hit the go-ahead double that drove in Sanoja to clinch Venezuela’s first World Baseball Classic title last month, called Sanoja one of his favorite teammates from that tournament run. Sanoja only played in three of Venezuela’s seven games in the tournament, but he made his impact felt in the dugout even when he wasn’t playing. He was one of the first to greet teammates at the dugout after big plays, essentially serving as a hype man who kept spirits high with his infectious personality.
“He’s a good guy, a good human being,” Suarez said. “I think more than just the good player that he is, the way he treats everybody and the way he enjoys the game is great to be a part of with him.”
Sanoja said hearing that praise from Suarez, a two-time All-Star, was a confidence booster for him. The two have kept in contact since the World Baseball Classic ended and reconnected this week when the Marlins hosted the Reds for a four-game series.
“It feels so good like to be recognized by somebody that has been very successful in this level of baseball in general,” Sanoja said. “It fills my heart with pride when you hear something like that. It motivates me to go out there and compete. I’m a young player. I’m very young, but you have to compete, and I have to become a man to get to everybody’s level and just continue to be very successful in this game.”
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