The Marlins placed right-hander Sixto Sanchez on the 15-day injured list today (retroactive to June 1), with right-hander Emmanuel Ramirez was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move. Sanchez is dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder, and something seemed awry when his velocity was significantly down in his start against the Rangers on Friday.
Given how multiple shoulder surgeries (amidst other injuries) kept Sanchez from just a single inning of minor league ball from 2021-23, it isn’t a good sign that the former top prospect is again dealing with any type of shoulder problem, even if some inflammation or soreness might be expected given Sanchez’s long layoff. The righty made his return to the big leagues this season and has a 6.06 ERA over 35 2/3 innings for Miami, starting seven of his 14 appearances. While Sanchez has always been more of a grounder specialist than a strikeout artist, Sanchez has struck out only 10.5% of batters faced this season.
More from around the NL East…
- Brandon Marsh is “day to day…at this point” with a right hamstring strain, as Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer) after Marsh was removed from tonight’s game. In the eighth inning, Marsh was rounding second base after a Nick Castellanos single, but seemed to tweak his hamstring and immediately asked for a trainer. One of the many Phillies players enjoying a strong season, Marsh is hitting .265/.344/.426 over 186 plate appearances, playing primarily as the regular left fielder against right-handed pitching, and also bouncing around to the other two outfield spots when needed. Philadelphia has a pair of upcoming off-days on Thursday and Friday, so the club might try to get by without Marsh until that break in the hopes that he can avoid the injured list.
- Francisco Alvarez could possibly be making a quicker return than expected from thumb surgery, as The Athletic’s Will Sammon (X link) writes that “there’s a distinct possibility” Alvarez could be part of the Mets’ roster for the pair of games with the Phillies in London on June 8-9. The catcher was given a recovery timeline of 6-8 weeks after he underwent the surgery on April 23, though since Alvarez has started a minor league rehab assignment, the Mets are hopeful that he might make it back right at the low end of that initial progression.
- In other Mets injury news, the team called up Shintaro Fujinami in mid-May and placed him on the Major League 15-day injured list, a procedural move that MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo explains was made so Fujinami could eventually be moved to the 60-day IL, thus freeing up a 40-man roster spot. Fujinami hasn’t been pitched for a month due to a shoulder strain, and the updated 6-8 week timeline means that he’ll likely be out of action until July. New York signed Fujinami to a one-year, $3.35MM deal in February, coming off his MLB debut season that saw him post a 7.18 ERA across 79 innings with the A’s and Orioles. Despite that big ERA, the hard-throwing Fujinami pitched better as the season went on, leading the Mets to make a small investment in his potential as a bullpen arm.
- The Braves have assigned David Fletcher from Triple-A Gwinnett to Double-A Mississippi, the team announced. While technically a demotion, the Mississippi affiliate’s official X feed listed Fletcher as an infielder and right-handed pitcher, indicating that this move could be a way of giving Fletcher more runway to explore his new career path as a knuckleballer. The Athletic’s David O’Brien recently detailed how Fletcher has been experimenting with a knuckler, culminating in a start last Wednesday when he limited the Orioles’ Triple-A squad to two runs over five innings. Fletcher (who recently celebrated his 30th birthday) is still owed at least roughly $12MM through the end of the 2025 season, as per the five-year, $26MM extension he signed with the Angels in April 2021. His production as an infielder has declined sharply since signing that deal, and the Braves acquired him as part of a mutual salary dump of trade last December. Fletcher is also under investigation from the league in regards to allegations of non-baseball bets placed with an illegal bookmaker.
Id be willing to bet that Fletcher can’t make it as a pitcher.
So would he…
“Willing to bet” – we see what you did.
Spread the avocado, cause David is toast.
But Dominic Fletcher made an amazing catch last night. At least the parents can be proud of Dominic.
Dominic is terrible lol. :3
Dominic can’t crack the lineup of a 15-45 team so, yeah, he stinks. As for David, if he’s going to become a knuckleball pitcher, he’s with the right organization.
David is honestly, not even that bad in his career
Dominic did not “stink” yesterday. One of the best catches of the year.
mlb.com/video/william-contreras-flies-out-sharply-…
espn.com/video/clip/_/id/40263758
making a good catch doesn’t make him good lmao
Uh, BREAKING…we are all day-to-day!
Amen to that.
For me, sometimes it feels minute-to-minute, other times second-to-second. So now I just say moment-to-moment.
So the one week I don’t have ball, Mark doesn’t do a chat. Lol
Man that sucks really rooting for Sixto but once that shoulder goes it doesn’t really recover
I feel bad for him. He was such a promising prospect but all these injuries and surgeries must be taking a toll on his arm. Hopefully he can bounce back and have a decent mlb career.
That Realmuto trade that netted the Marlins Sixto and Jorge Alfaro (C) hasn’t panned out. Alfaro was pretty much a bust and is now bouncing from org to org. while Sixto can’t stay healthy.
Sixto will get dfa’d soon I bet within 2 months
That’s if he’s healthy in 2 months but they’ll give him longer considering the promise he showed and the fact he’s the only piece left from the Realmuto deal
Unlike the Braves (Strider and Acuna), the Phillies have been relatively healthy, and the one key player on the IL (Trea Turner) is at least due back while Strider and Acuna are out for the year.
Can’t imagine where my Phillies would be if they lost their best SP (Wheeler) and best hitter (Harper) for the season.
Kudos to the Braves are staying close in the NL East in the wake of those two killer injuries.
Curious if you Rafael Marchan? 🙂
‘Can’t imagine’ and ‘what if’ scenarios are always so unsatisfying. I can’t imagine wondering what if injuries do or don’t occur.
They just lost Acuna, so can’t really count that, but for rest of season, agree. Losing Strider was big since their rotation had holes even with him.
The Braves didn’t have Acuna during 2021 when they won the world series and Strider only pitched 2 games that year. Don’t count AA out just yet.
I’m not, I was just responding to the situation this year. I don’t count them out at all, though I do think the Phillies and Dodgers are just better teams. But the “better” team doesn’t always win in the playoffs anyway.
Ok, then throw in losing Murphy.
I will be rooting for Fletch just because of I want more knuckleballers in the game. Maybe teams will try scouting and developing more of them since every pitcher is virtually guaranteed to get Tommy John in their career now.
Dutch: I’m with you. This throwing 98-102 mph is already taking out so many P who come back throwing 92-94. It’s going to have to end soon if only by attrition. I remember knuckleballer Wilbur Wood throwing both ends of a doubleheader more than once. The only drawback is an inevitable rise in SB.
This is a big deal and I sometimes feel like clubs, especially those who can’t afford the long term contracts, take advantage of. Milk 2-4 high level years from the young SP while having them max velo and spin rate, and let deal with the TJS when it happens or better yet, let another club deal with it. But then on the other end, these young guys are trying to set themselves up for the biggest contracts they can. Eventually I hope the shift back to low-mid 90s happens, because that velo can be dominant too with the right pitch mix and approach.
I would be willing to bet most teams would prefer those young arms stay healthy through at least their pre-arb years. I really think your second take on the players trying to dominate to get big money is closer to the reality. Same with hitters juicing to hit more homers (we all know chicks .. and GM’s .. dug the long ball back then).
Sadly, these ‘academies’ started stressing spin rate over a decade ago. I am not even certain big league teams cared about it as much as the academies did, as we certainly didn’t hear much about it until a few years ago. I think too many pitchers are obsessed with it now because they know teams are at least looking at it. They should know that there are some guys like Max Fried who are around average spin rate on most pitches but still excel.
All fastball varieties – 2167 (87rd among qualified pitchers in 2024)
All breaking pitch varieties – 2735 (18th)
All off-speed varieties – 1484 (98th)
The guy just understands pitching instead of throwing. Have to say it, but I think most Braves fans expected Strider to blow up his arm last year. He made it further than most who follow savage one year increases in usage though he would, especially for a power pitcher.
100% this. We need at least one knuckleballer in the league at any given time and we’ve been starved of knuckles for too long. Too long I say!!
Fletcher has done well as a pitching prospect (very small sample size of course). If he can become a 6th starter who is the utility guy as well—so a way to sneak another pitcher onto the 26 man—like ohtani. The Braves need to give as much rest as possible to Sale and Lopez—(Morton and Fried as well). This could really help. The Braves need to go with a 6 man rotation. It is a long shot. It would be a welcome miracle if this salary dump turns in actual production. Amazing. Long shot, but hope is a good thing.
Even as a Phillies fan I feel terrible for Sixto