Phillies prospect Sixto Sanchez not pitching in Arizona Fall League

Top Phillies prospect Sixto Sanchez will not appear in the Arizona Fall League after a setback in his recovery from an elbow injury.

The Arizona Fall League kicks off Tuesday, but the most exciting Phillies prospect will no longer be heading there. Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported that Sanchez will not participate after suffering a setback in his recovery from an elbow injury. General manager Matt Klentak confirmed the news.

While working back from the injury, Sanchez started experiencing soreness in his collarbone. While the team’s medical staff fully believes he will be ready for spring training, he missed enough Florida Instructional League time that the team doesn’t feel he is ready for the AFL.

Sanchez made only eight starts in High-A Clearwater this year. He was held out of the start of the minor-league season as a precaution. After his last start on June 3, Sanchez complained of elbow soreness, leading to him being shut down. Thankfully the injury did not require surgery and Sanchez was back on the mound by the end of August.

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Pitching in the AFL would have been a great way to quell any injury concerns regarding Sanchez. Now they will persist throughout the offseason and into spring training. When you are a team’s top prospect like Sanchez, every setback goes under the microscope.

Before his injury, Sanchez was dealing. He had a 2.51 ERA, 2.66 fielding-independent pitching, 4.09 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 1.07 WHIP. Opposing hitters were batting just .223 against him. In his last four starts, he gave up just two runs over 25.2 innings. His last start was a seven-inning complete game shutout.

With Sanchez out, Philadelphia’s group of AFL prospects is far less impressive: pitchers Luke Leftwich, Seth McGarry, and Tyler Viza, shortstop Arquimedes Gamboa, first baseman Darick Hall, third baseman Luke Williams, and outfielder Austin Listi. Gamboa is the only other top-30 prospect headed to the AFL.