Sixto Sanchez has Phillies fans dreaming of a homegrown ace not seen since Cole Hamels
Phillies top pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez has been promoted to High-A Clearwater by the organization.
Six days removed from his 19th birthday, Sanchez joins an overloaded Threshers staff featuring prospects Franklyn Kilome, Seranthony Dominguez, JoJo Romero, and Ranger Suarez.
He also joins J.D. Hammer, McKenzie Mills, and Seth McGarry, all pitching prospects recently acquired in the team’s motley of trade deadline moves.
Sanchez’ promotion was certainly warranted after plowing through the competition with Single-A Lakewood. Starting 13 games for the BlueClaws Sanchez hurled 64 strikeouts in 67.1 innings with an ERA of 2.41.
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Baseball America has ranked Sanchez as the 80th best prospect in baseball, while MLB Pipeline rates Sanchez as the Phils’ second-best prospect behind Mickey Moniak, and the 52nd best prospect in baseball.
Sanchez comes with a flaming fastball that consistently hits the mid-to-upper 90s, and has impressed coaches at all levels of the organization. While still years removed from being an impact at the major league level, Sanchez is a critical piece to the organization’s future.
A strong showing in High-A could potentially lead to Sanchez getting a shot with the Double-A Reading Fightin’ Phils in September. Roster changes throughout the organization when the 40-man roster opens up to the major league club could allow Sanchez or Kilome to make an appearance at the next level.
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Clearwater sits at 21-19 in the Florida State League North division, and 4.5 games out of first place with a month of games left to play.