Sixto Sánchez makes Marlins Opening Day Roster

[Kevin Barral]

On Friday, Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker announced that right-handed pitcher Sixto Sánchez will begin the 2024 season on the club's active roster.

JUPITER, FL—Although the Marlins' night game against the St. Louis Cardinals was cancelled due to inclement weather, Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker informed the media on Friday that pitcher Sixto Sánchez has made the Opening Day roster.

This spring Sánchez has thrown seven innings, not allowing a run, striking out four and only allowing one hit while walking three. Going into the spring, Sánchez's velocity was always a point of emphasis, but through his five appearances, he averaged around 95 mph, topping out at 99 mph in his third appearance against the Washington Nationals where he averaged 97.3 mph on the fastball.

"He came to camp and I didn't think he was going to be throwing the way he's throwing," said Skip Schumaker. "So really impressed how he's throwing the baseball and a bunch of us were in the room and let him know how excited we are for him."

Schumaker did admit that entering spring training, he did not expect Sánchez to make the roster ("he was on the outside looking in").

Schumaker added, "He had to show that he could come out healthy, recover, show that he could go multiple innings and still feel good, show that there's velo, offspeed and the swagger. All of that is when you know he's back. He wasn't timid, he was going right after guys. We put him in against some harder lineup situations, sometimes to see how that would look. He controls the running game. The clock did not mess him up whatsoever...There's new rules and the whole deal. He's filled his position as good as anybody."

President of baseball operations Peter Bendix called Sánchez "a very pleasant revelation."

"To see him get better every single time that he's thrown the ball dating back to bullpen sessions, in this first live BP and you can see him gain confidence, even from the first pitch of an outing to the last pitch, you can see that the old Sixto is still in there. I think he's beginning to understand that he can really turn it loose, let the ball go and it's not going to hurt his shoulder."

Sánchez was acquired by the Marlins five years ago in the J.T. Realmuto trade along with Jorge Alfaro and Will Stewart. That was back in 2019 and Sánchez stands as the last player from the trade who's still with the Marlins organization. He made his MLB debut with the club in 2020, throwing 39 innings, posting a 3.46 ERA, 3.50 FIP, 7.6 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. He would be sidelined for the next three years due to various shoulder surgeries and setbacks in his recovery. His lone appearance this past season was with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos where he went one inning, struck out two and the velocity was nowhere near where it is now.

Sánchez will be a reliever moving forward, but it isn't clear what his specific role will be.

"You're gonna see him in a number of different roles and then the game will tell you," said Schumaker. "The season will tell you what role he's going to be in, but, you know, I haven't gotten that far yet."

 

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