Philadelphia Phillies ace left-hander Cristopher Sanchez just can’t seem to garner enough support to begin filling his trophy case.
In 2025, after a season that would have won a National League Cy Young in most years, Sanchez finished second to MLB sophomore Paul Skenes. This year, nearly every prediction model (including ESPN and Fangraphs) projects him to finish runner-up to Jacob Misiorowski. And yesterday, Sanchez finished 158 points behind Junior Caminero for the Juan Marichal Award, second place again, announced via livestream by the award’s namesake himself,
Since 2021, the Juan Marichal Award has honored the best Dominican player in Major League Baseball, and this year repeated 2025, when Sanchez finished runner-up to Juan Soto in a race decided by 124 voting points, 443 to 319.
It’s understandable that Sanchez finished behind Skenes in 2025. Few would argue the Phillies’ ace had the better season. The same goes for this year’s Cy Young race. Misiorowski is perhaps the best pitcher in baseball; Sanchez had a very good season, but there’s a chasm between the two.
For Sanchez to finish behind Soto and Caminero, both? It’s a different story.
Cris Sanchez has been snubbed twice
Comparing position players and pitchers is a nigh-impossible task. They might as well be playing a different sport. But if we go by WAR, which purports to measure their value on the same scale, then the race between Sanchez and his Juan Marichal Award rivals isn’t close.
A CAREER-HIGH 13 STRIKEOUTS FOR CRISTOPHER SÁNCHEZ! pic.twitter.com/dbG0otlQ1G
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 16, 2026
Sanchez accrued 8.1 rWAR and 6.5 fWAR in 2025 while throwing 202 innings to the tune of a 2.50 ERA. Soto had 6.1 rWAR and 5.7 fWAR. He hit 43 home runs, stole 38 bases, and finished with a .921 OPS. Soto winning this race, let alone by 124 votes, is a travesty. Home runs are flashier than strikeouts, and a slight WAR difference over the small sample size of a single season shouldn’t decide anything. But there is a not-insignificant divide between the two. Sanchez had a far superior season and was snubbed.
In 2026, Sanchez again had an exactly 8.1 rWAR season with 6.2 fWAR. Caminero had 5.7 rWAR and 5.3 fWAR. Sanchez had a worse season in 2026 than in 2025—a 2.91 ERA in 207 innings—but he also had much weaker defense behind him. Though his average exit velocity stayed the same season to season, his opponents’ BABIP rose by 37 points. Caminero, meanwhile, bashed 42 home runs with an .885 OPS. It was a great season for Sanchez's countryman, but there is a gap in quality between the two players.
Again, Sanchez fell victim to the oldest trick in the book if you want to win awards: don’t be a pitcher.
Add us as a preferred source on Google