The Blue Jays are in agreement with right-hander Aaron Sanchez on a minor league contract, reports Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell (X link). He joins Beau Sulser as recent non-roster signees to add rotation depth to the organization.
Sanchez returns to the team with which he’s had by far the most success. The Blue Jays selected him 34th overall in the 2010 draft. The sinkerballer made it to the big leagues late in the ’14 campaign. He worked in a swing role during his first full MLB season before a full-time move to the rotation in 2016. Sanchez had a career year, turning in an AL-best 3.00 ERA over 30 starts. He earned an All-Star nod and finished seventh in Cy Young balloting.
Things went downhill from there. Sanchez lost a good portion of the 2017 season to injury. He struggled between 2018-19 and was moved to the Astros in something of a sell-low deadline deal for outfielder Derek Fisher. Sanchez has never found his footing since leaving Toronto. He has appeared for four teams since the trade, logging a cumulative 114 innings. He owns a 5.21 ERA with a modest 16.5% strikeout rate. His last MLB work came with the Nationals and Twins in 2022.
Sanchez spent last season in Triple-A between the Minnesota and Arizona systems. He started 20 of 22 appearances and threw 89 1/3 innings but allowed 5.54 earned runs per nine. He struck out 16.1% of opponents while issuing walks nearly 15% of the time.
While Sanchez might need some time to work into game shape, he’ll presumably report to Triple-A Buffalo within the next few weeks. Toronto has lost depth starters Yariel Rodríguez and Bowden Francis to the injured list recently. Rodríguez’s placement coincided with Alek Manoah’s return, so the Jays still have a defined front five with Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos, Yusei Kikuchi and Manoah. They’re light on depth beyond that group, with Paolo Espino standing as the only other experienced starter on the 40-man roster.
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