The Marlins will get Jesús Sánchez reps in heart subject this spring, supervisor Clayton McCullough mentioned this morning (relayed by Isaac Azout of Fish on First). The 27-year-old nonetheless tasks as Miami’s proper fielder on most days however may see some motion in heart if he exhibits nicely in camp.
“We predict he’s greater than athletic sufficient, he’s carried out it up to now and he’s graded out nicely as an outfielder. To us, there’s no draw back to do that in Spring Coaching,” McCullough mentioned. The primary-year skipper famous that he expects Dane Myers and Derek Hill to mix for almost all of taking part in time up the center, although Sánchez may seemingly additionally think about there.
Sánchez began almost half of Miami’s video games in heart subject again in 2022. He has moved nearly solely to the nook outfield since then. He logged 58 innings in heart two seasons in the past and didn’t play there in any respect final yr. Sánchez has primarily performed proper subject whereas choosing up a handful of begins in left.
The defensive grades have been stable, if unexceptional. Sánchez has graded as a league common defender by Statcast’s metrics in each season of his profession. Defensive Runs Saved has been barely extra bullish on his nook outfield work, sometimes score him slightly higher than common. DRS has graded him 9 runs above common in over 3100 profession innings. Each metrics felt his 2022 heart subject work was near impartial.
Sánchez has common pace with good arm power. He’s higher suited to proper subject however in all probability athletic sufficient to play heart on a part-time foundation. Myers and Hill are every quicker and higher all-around athletes. They need to present higher protection up the center, however neither has a lot of an MLB observe file. Myers, 29 subsequent month, has a good .265/.315/.407 slash over 66 profession video games. He has struck out in additional than 30% of his plate appearances with a middling 5.6% stroll fee. The 29-year-old Hill has hit .233/.276/.353 over elements of 5 MLB seasons.
Considerably remarkably, the 27-year-old Sánchez is essentially the most skilled hitter on Miami’s roster. He’s the one Marlins place participant with over three years of service time. The previous high prospect has settled in as a succesful common in proper subject. He has hit between 13 and 18 residence runs in every of the final 4 seasons. He’s coming off a .252/.313/.417 exhibiting that roughly aligns together with his league common .240/.308/.428 profession batting line.
The Marlins can have Sánchez within the on a regular basis lineup someplace within the outfield, most incessantly in proper. He may discover himself on the transfer on the deadline. His $4.5MM arbitration wage makes him the second-highest paid participant on the group behind Sandy Alcantara (not together with the $17MM nonetheless owed to launched outfielder Avisaíl García). He’s beneath membership management for 3 seasons however may wind up as a non-tender candidate in a yr or two as his projected salaries proceed to climb. It stands to purpose that the Marlins could be comfy transferring him in the event that they discover respectable curiosity over the summer time. Sánchez could be a barely extra helpful commerce piece if he exhibits he’s an sufficient heart fielder, as that’d place him for a possible fourth outfield function on a contender.
