FREDDY SANCHEZ
12/21/77; '00 11th (Boston); Oklahoma City Univ.
R/R; 5-11, 185
| Level |
BA |
OBP |
SA |
AB |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
K |
SB |
CS |
| 2000 A (Bos) |
.303 |
.372 |
.367 |
109 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
19 |
4 |
0 |
| 2000 A-
(Bos) |
.288 |
.347 |
.439 |
132 |
13 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
16 |
2 |
4 |
| 2001 AA (Bos) |
.326 |
.363 |
.472 |
178 |
20 |
0 |
2 |
9 |
21 |
3 |
1 |
| 2001 A+
(Bos) |
.339 |
.388 |
.446 |
280 |
19 |
4 |
1 |
22 |
30 |
5 |
3 |
| 2002 AL (Bos) |
.188 |
.278 |
.188 |
16 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
| 2002 AAA (Bos) |
.301 |
.350 |
.432 |
183 |
10 |
1 |
4 |
12 |
21 |
5 |
3 |
| 2002 AA (Bos) |
.328 |
.403 |
.437 |
311 |
23 |
1 |
3 |
37 |
45 |
19 |
3 |
| 2003
AL (Bos) |
.235 |
.235 |
.294 |
34 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
| 2003 AAA (Bos) |
.341 |
.430 |
.493 |
211 |
17 |
0 |
5 |
31 |
36 |
8 |
0 |
| 2003 AAA |
.400 |
.400 |
.600 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| 2004 NL |
.158 |
.158 |
.158 |
19 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
| 2004 AAA |
.264 |
.326 |
.360 |
125 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
17 |
4 |
1 |
| 2005 NL |
.291 |
.336 |
.400 |
453 |
26 |
4 |
5 |
27 |
36 |
2 |
2 |
| 2006
NL |
.344 |
.378 |
.473 |
582 |
53 |
2 |
6 |
31 |
52 |
3 |
2 |
| 2007 NL |
.304 |
.343 |
.442 |
602 |
42 |
4 |
11 |
32 |
76 |
0 |
1 |
| 2008
NL |
.271 |
.298 |
.371 |
569 |
26 |
2 |
9 |
21 |
63 |
0 |
1 |
The Pirates acquired Sanchez in the reworked Suppan/Lyon
trade with Boston, with the net result being a trade of Scott Sauerbeck and Jeff
Suppan for Sanchez. He had surgery to remove a bone spur from his ankle shortly
after the Pirates acquired him, which kept him from competing for the 2B job in
spring training. In keeping with their recurring pattern, they had stated
Sanchez would be ready by then, but he wasn't until mid-season. Sanchez
himself said in an interview that the surgery was more serious than had been
reported in the media and that the doctors had told him from the start that the
recovery would probably take about a year. He finally was able to report
to Nashville, where he was very rusty at first but eventually began to hit
well. He appeared briefly with the Pirates, then made the team as a UT
player in 2005. Due to injuries to Jose Castillo and the poor play of Ty
Wigginton, he ended up getting considerable playing time at both 2B and 3B,
enough to finish 4th on the team in ABs. He also served as the principle backup
at SS.
Sanchez began 2006 as a UT player, thanks to Dave Littlefield's boneheaded signing of Joe Randa, but made the All-Star team, recorded 200 hits and finished the season as the Pirates' 25th batting champion. Sanchez was coming off a solid season in 2005, his first full one, and had finished strongly in September, hitting 325/358/526, with 4 of his 5 HRs. He'd also played outstanding defense at 3B, with a zone rating that would have led the majors by a wide margin if he'd qualified. Littlefield nevertheless signed the 36-year-old Randa, but he got off to a dismal start while Sanchez was hot, hitting .333 in April. Jim Tracy continued to play Randa, falling back on the classic Lloyd McClendon excuse of claiming that Sanchez was doing well only because Tracy was choosing his spots. When Randa went out with a fractured foot, however, Sanchez got even better with regular playing time. Eager to save face, Tracy and Littlefield continued to maintain that Randa was the regular 3B, but when Sanchez officially took over the NL batting lead they finally relented. In the end, Sanchez not only led the NL in hitting, but also in doubles, for which he tied for the major league lead. He hit over .300 in every month, torched LHPs for a .442 average and hit .386 with RISP.
The big question was whether 2006 was a career year for
Sanchez. He moved to 2B in 2007, replacing the deteriorating Jose
Castillo. Sanchez suffered a sprained knee during spring training, which
led to much criticism of the Pirates' decision to move him to a position where
he'd have to face baserunners trying to take him out on the pivot. The
sprain clearly affected him early in the season, as he hit .224 in April and
showed no range in the field. He started to hit in May, however, and in
July suddenly started hitting for power. He had only one HR at the end of
June, but hit five each in July and August, with a line of 374/447/610 for the
latter month. He continued to wreck LHPs, posting an OPS against them of
.956 compared to .721 against RHPs. Sanchez also improved dramatically on
defense as the season progressed. He led NL secondbasemen in DPs and his
range improved. Most statistical measures, like zone rating or Baseball
Prospectus' system, show his range as below average, but his early season
problems with the knee probably played a role—he rated better in BP's sytem at
the end of the year than he did at mid-season, for example.
The question is how much of it resulted from the knee
problem. Sanchez cooled off with the bat in September, but that may
have resulted from a sore shoulder. His season ended five days early as he
had minor shoulder surgery.
Sanchez was expected to be 100% for 2008, but that wasn't the case as shoulder soreness from the surgery bothered him all
year. He was able to play only sporadically in early April and had to
rest now and then throughout the year, often after games in which he had to
make long throws. He was also bothered at times by blurred vision, a
remnant of a procedure to remove a foreign object from his eye in
2007. The overall result was a much worse start than he'd had in
2007. By the All-Star break, Sanchez was hitting just 226/251/304 and was
also struggling in the field. You can make a good argument that he was by
far the worst regular in MLB the first half of the season. After the
All-Star break, though, he suddenly turned back into the 2006 Sanchez, at least
with the bat. He hit 346/378/483, nearly identical to his 2006
numbers. It was hard to tell exactly how much of the
early struggles resulted from his shoulder because he
was consistently chasing pitches that extremely far off the plate.
That didn't entirely end at mid-season, either. He's never had much
patience, but he went from June 17 to August 25 without drawing a single
walk. Overall, he once again had a large platoon split: .788 OPS vs.
LHPs and .637 vs. RHPs. Defensively, he continued to rate very poorly in
every statistical measure I've seen and, visually, he really doesn't appear to
have much range. He is good on the DP pivot, though.
Sanchez
is a remarkable story, because he was born with a club foot and there were
doubts he'd even be able to walk normally. He's an example of a guy who
wasn't naturally gifted, but made himself into a good player. Shortly
before spring training in 2008, Sanchez signed a two-year contract with an option for 2010, which would have been his free agent year. It's a club option, but it vests if he reaches specified performance levels. There's been some speculation that the Pirates might trade him, but it's not that likely because they'd be selling low, which the team's new management, unlike their predecessors, seem to realize is a bad thing. His second half showing raises the hope that he can still put together a very good season if he can stay healthy. The last couple years have shown, though, that he's a slow healer and doesn't play at all well if he isn't 100%. It's also not clear whether his shoulder will ever fully recover. In any event, the team will be relying on Sanchez heavily to help make up for the loss of Jason Bay and Xavier Nady.
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