The Blue Jays announced that they have signed former Pirates catcher Tony Sanchez to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Sanchez, who is represented by ACES, will compete for a backup role to Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin — a former Pirate himself. The 27-year-old Sanchez was selected fourth overall in the 2009 draft and saw time in parts of three big league seasons with the Bucs, batting a combined .259/.303/.378 with four homers in 155 plate appearances. Rated as one of baseball’s Top 100 prospects by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus in 2010-11, Sanchez’s bat stalled in the upper minors after he excelled at Class-A and Class-A Advanced. With parts of four seasons at Triple-A under his belt, the Boston College product has a .248/.342/.415 batting line at that level. He’s caught 22 percent of opposing base-stealers throughout his minor league tenure and 17 percent in the Majors. Baseball Prospectus, which keeps track of minor league framing numbers as well as Major League numbers, feels that Sanchez has been a generally above-average pitch-framer throughout his time at the Triple-A level.
Josh Thole currently projects to be Toronto’s backup catcher, and his familiarity with R.A. Dickey’s knuckleball perhaps gives him a leg up in any competition that could form in Spring Training. Sanchez will add to a relatively thin depth chart behind the plate for the Blue Jays, however, who currently have A.J. Jimenez and veteran Humberto Quintero in camp as big league alternatives or options at Triple-A Buffalo.
AAA depth at best. He’s always had some pop in his bat, but he’s a terrible catcher and very immature. Good luck with Tony 2 Beers.
Wow! This signing puts us over the top as favorites,,, The pennant is ours! #jays
Why make a comment like this? If anything hes going to be the 25th man on our roster or depth. These kind of signings are neccesary and can be very beneficial
Every fanbase has these “fans”.
Some much needed catcher depth for the team.
Agreed. Although Martin has been healthy the last few years it was quite the opposite earlier in his career with LA. If the injury bug catches up to him again Toronto is going to need a better back up than Thole. Perhaps, the Yankees will designate Romine again or the Jays can make a trade with the Padres for one of their catchers.
Seems like Sanchez always had issues after the broken jaw.
Tony’s first MLB hit was a double that stuck in the wall on the top of the fence. Was pretty crazy.
I’ve always liked him and i’m glad someone picked him up.
I’m still surprised that the Bucs out righted him to be honest. This is the 1st year of Cervelli’s career that he managed to stay healthy and put together good numbers start to finish, and if his injury bug pops again do you really want to call Diaz up too early to catch? You’re definitely not going to bring him up to sit on the bench and lose at bats to Stewart. I thought Sanchez had a chance to make the pirates roster as a pinch hitter. There definitely was no harm in having him at triple A in case of an injury to Cervelli or Stewart. And considering that rumors are popping up about Cervelli wanting just shy of 40 million bucks to sign an extension with the Buccos, perhaps they dumped Tony Sanchez a bit prematurely lol! I betcha Huntingon didn’t expect to see that figure on the sheet of paper that Cervelli’s agent slid across the table face down! Lmao!