Marlins Veteran Goes on Injured List, Potentially Signaling End of his Miami Tenure
The Miami Marlins had to be hoping for more.
The Marlins announced today that they’ve made a roster move, putting starter Sixto Sánchez on the fifteen-day injured list with “right shoulder inflammation”, retroactive to June 1st. The righthander, who is 0-3 with a 6.06 ERA, will spend at least two weeks rehabbing but indications are that he could be out longer than that.
It could also spell the end of his tenure with the organization.
Sánchez was once the most promising player in the organization, being acquired as part of the deal that sent catcher J.T. Realmuto to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 2018 season (a move the Marlins have never really recovered from). Sánchez debuted in the shortened 2020 season, going 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA and pitching a complete game before making his way to the rotation for the postseason.
But a variety of injuries, first cropping up in early in 2021, kept him also entirely out of competition for three full years. The only official baseball action Sánchez saw during the 2021-2023 stretch was a single minor league inning for Double-A Pensacola last year, where he allowed a hit and a walk but also struck out two despite significantly reduced velocity.
Out of minor league options but finally able to pitch in organized action again, Miami stuck Sánchez in the bullpen to start the 2024 season and he predictably struggled, allowing seven runs (five earned) in his first 4.1 innings of action.
But as he got his feet underneath him again, he gradually improved, putting up three consecutive scoreless relief outings in mid-April. It was such a promising return to form that Miami used him as a spot starter.
It didn’t go well.
Sánchez is 0-2 in his seven starts this year with a 6.04 ERA out of the rotation. He’s especially struggled early, with a 16.71 ERA in the first innings of games, having allowed 13 runs and an opposing batting average of .424 in those seven innings.
There’s not a lot to point to as success for Sánchez this season, short of actually getting into games, something that many speculated might never happen again. Sánchez, simply, hasn’t been good this year. He’s throwing with reduced velocity, averaging just 94 mph on his four-seam fastball (30% usage) and primarily sticking with an 84-mph cutter (34% usage) and an 85-mph changeup (31% usage). His fourth pitch is a sinker, thrown at 93 mph just 3% of the time. He has yet to throw a breaking ball this season, per Statcast, a remarkable feat for a Major League pitcher.
Sánchez could potentially stick with the organization, if given time on the injured list to rehab and find his ‘stuff’ again. He was throwing just 87 mph in his last outing, a factor that manager Skip Schumaker said played into the decision to put Sánchez on the injured list.
“I just felt like from the get-go it was 87 mph again,” Schumaker said following Friday’s game. “It's OK if it's 87 if he's used to throwing like 89 to 90. But when you have flashing 95-96, and then you are throwing 87, I just want to make sure everything's OK and he's not trying to get through something and just being up front with us, as well.”
When Sánchez is ready to return from the injured list, it’s hard to see how the Marlins decide to include him on the roster or put him back in the rotation. He simply hasn’t been a major league-caliber pitcher in 2024.
Marlins place Sixto Sanchez on the IL with shoulder inflammation. 0-3 6.06 ERA. I have never seen more opportunities wasted by a player here. Long time.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) June 2, 2024
Managing Editor for Blackerby Media, covering the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins Also: Senior Baseball Writer for Auburn Daily, member of both the National College Baseball Writers Association and Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (where he won the 2023 Prospects, Minors, & College Writer of the Year award)