St. Louis Cardinals: Will Brian Sanchez establish himself as a legitimate prospect this year?
As he gets ready to begin his first season in the United States, will Cardinals minor-leaguer Brian Sanchez establish himself as a top-tier prospect in 2017?
The Dominican Summer League is the lowest rung of the affiliated minor-league baseball ladder, and the players who arrive in that league without any fanfare or a big signing bonus face the longest odds of all. After a standout 2016 season, though, St. Louis Cardinals minor-league outfielder Brian Sanchez is looking to defy those long odds.
Sanchez, who was named the Cardinals’ minor-league Player of the Month last June, enjoyed a breakout campaign in the Dominican Summer League during 2016. This year, he’s moved to the United States and will begin his first season in the U.S. later this month.
Sanchez first signed with the Cardinals at the age of 18 years and seven months–a relatively old age for a Dominican prospect to sign–back in November of 2014. Sanchez, listed at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, was rather mediocre during his first professional campaign in 2015, hitting just .236/.317/.402 with six homers and 45 RBI over 259 plate appearances.
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Obviously, though, something clicked for Sanchez during the end of 2015 and the start of the 2016 DSL season. He clearly figured out how to hit for power, as his 15 homers led the DSL–in fact, they blew everyone else out of the water, as the second-place finisher had just nine home runs. In 275 plate appearances, Sanchez also led the DSL in slugging percentage (.642), OPS (1.075), isolated power (.293). He finished fourth in the league in batting average (.349) and fifth in on-base percentage (.433).
As he enters a 2017 season that’s likely to be spent in the Gulf Coast League–though he conceivably could be pushed up to the advanced rookie Appalachian League or the short-season Class A New York-Penn League–he’ll face the challenge of dominating once again after roughly nine months without playing in an official game. No matter what league Sanchez plays in this year, he’ll be overaged for it–just as he was in the DSL last year–so he needs to go above and beyond, rather than just being good, in order to prove that the off-the-charts season he put together last year wasn’t just an aberration.
Sanchez is going to be behind the eight ball no matter what, because even if he’s great this year, the best case scenario involves him being an old-for-his-league 22-year-old in A-ball next season. Slugging corner outfielders are generally a bit slower to develop anyway, though, so there’s surely a path to the big leagues at some point for Sanchez if he continues to hit homers.
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If Sanchez can prove himself as a legitimate home run hitter, he’d be an impressive addition to an already-good crop of outfield prospects that includes Harrison Bader, Magneuris Sierra, Randy Arozarena, Dylan Carlson, Nick Plummer, Bryce Denton, and Jonathan Machado.