Blue Jays (Arrighetti) vs Royals (Dobnak): 09/06/26, 2:10 PM

[hanton]

didn't watch the game but what's up with playing Sanchez in LF?  Bat must have carried him to the majors because he's unplayable in the field

[Masterbather]

44 minutes ago, hanton said:

didn't watch the game but what's up with playing Sanchez in LF?  Bat must have carried him to the majors because he's unplayable in the field

Well the bat's not doing enough to keep him there I'll tell you that much.

We need Santander. I know he's not a good outfielder, but he can catch a fly ball. That would be a major step up at this point. He's a gold glover by comparison.

[james jones]

At this point, starting Spaghetti is a guaranteed loss. This guy gives up a run almost every inning.

Astros knew he was bad.. At least Varsho looks horrible as well.

[Stangstag]

Sanchez should never be allowed to put on a glove again. Embarrassing lack of instincts from a major leaguer 

[hanton]

8 minutes ago, james jones said:

At this point, starting Spaghetti is a guaranteed loss. This guy gives up a run almost every inning.

Astros knew he was bad.. At least Varsho looks horrible as well.

"you want who...?"

yep

[james jones]

13 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Sanchez should never be allowed to put on a glove again. Embarrassing lack of instincts from a major leaguer 

His offense is horrible to make up his bad fielding. 106 wRC+ for the league worst defense outfielder?? Oof

[Pendleton]

10 hours ago, hanton said:

didn't watch the game but what's up with playing Sanchez in LF?  Bat must have carried him to the majors because he's unplayable in the field

 

The weird part is that he was always an ok defender prior to this year, and isn't really old enough to expect his defense to have fallen off a cliff like this. The guy was still getting time in CF as recently as last season, but it seems his jump and range are notably diminished for whatever reason. 

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jesus-sanchez-660821?stats=statcast-r-fielding-mlb

[max silver]

59 minutes ago, Pendleton said:

 

The weird part is that he was always an ok defender prior to this year, and isn't really old enough to expect his defense to have fallen off a cliff like this. The guy was still getting time in CF as recently as last season, but it seems his jump and range are notably diminished for whatever reason. 

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jesus-sanchez-660821?stats=statcast-r-fielding-mlb

Sanchez also appears as though he's scared of the ball this season. I'm reminded of Derek Fisher who completely lost his confidence and started to shy away from fly balls after taking a ball to the face and wonder if Sanchez had some sort of incidence that shattered his confidence in the outfield. It's wild that he managed to produce above average metrics in both corners as recently as last season as he resembles a guy that just started converting to the outfield this year.

[Pendleton]

1 minute ago, max silver said:

Sanchez also appears as though he's scared of the ball this season. I'm reminded of Derek Fisher who completely lost his confidence and started to shy away from fly balls after taking a ball to the face and wonder if Sanchez had some sort of incidence that shattered his confidence in the outfield. It's wild that he managed to produce above average metrics in both corners as recently as last season as he resembles a guy that just started converting to the outfield this year.

There's definitely confidence issues arising now, and that's pulling bad defense down to dogshit levels. But it's not just in his head, he is notably slower this season 

[max silver]

8 minutes ago, Pendleton said:

There's definitely confidence issues arising now, and that's pulling bad defense down to dogshit levels. But it's not just in his head, he is notably slower this season 

Yeah it's definitely a combination of lowered athleticism plus confidence/judgement at this point. The jumps are down significantly with slower reaction and a lesser burst and his foot speed is down this season as well.

[VladdyAlomar]

2 minutes ago, max silver said:

Yeah it's definitely a combination of lowered athleticism plus confidence/judgement at this point. The jumps are down significantly with slower reaction and a lesser burst and his foot speed is down this season as well.

[Pendleton]

11 minutes ago, max silver said:

Yeah it's definitely a combination of lowered athleticism plus confidence/judgement at this point. The jumps are down significantly with slower reaction and a lesser burst and his foot speed is down this season as well.

 

Sanchez himself has stated that part of his struggle is due to limited experience in LF, he did have just 66 starts there over the previous five seasons. 

 

I'm now curious though, was there much talk about Sanchez defense earlier in the season, or have all the issues mostly occurred since he returned from the ankle injury suffered in late June? I don't think there is a way to view defensive stats by month 

[jaysblue]

I know this is the wrong thread, but doubt it gets read in the other ones. Anyone on the board doing a fantasy football league? Would be interested in joining a re-draft league for fun. 

[VladdyAlomar]

[max silver]

1 hour ago, Pendleton said:

 

Sanchez himself has stated that part of his struggle is due to limited experience in LF, he did have just 66 starts there over the previous five seasons. 

 

I'm now curious though, was there much talk about Sanchez defense earlier in the season, or have all the issues mostly occurred since he returned from the ankle injury suffered in late June? I don't think there is a way to view defensive stats by month 

While I can give Sanchez a tiny bit of leeway for not being fully familiar with left field he was also one of MLB's worst right field defenders this season as well so he's awful in both corners. He's up near the top of the "leaderboard" in negative run value by Statcast in right field despite playing a fraction of the innings of most of the players at the top, and he's been so bad his -9% success rate added in right field is right in line with Kyle Schwarber's -8% success rate added in left field in 2023. 

You can sort the Statcast metrics over time now but unfortunately it hasn't been added to Fangraphs yet. Sanchez has been very poor in the field for the entire season well before the ankle injury took place.

Sanchez Defensive Futility Month to Month

Mar/Apr 0 FRV RF/-1 FRV LF
May -4 FRV RF/0 FRV LF

June -1 FRV RF/0 FRV LF

July 0 FRV LF only (only 7 innings)

Aug-today -2 FRV LF (only 92 innings)