Most baseball fans can agree that they witnessed a coming-out party for starter Cristopher Sánchez in 2025. The Philadelphia Phillies heavily relied on the left-hander after the injury to Zack Wheeler, and Sánchez continued to lock down the rotation during an All-Star-worthy campaign (subscription required). He's an analytical darling, and heading into fantasy baseball season we can expect more of the same in 2026 based on recent Stuff+ analysis.
Eno Sarris of The Athletic has compiled his annual top 150 starting pitcher rankings using Stuff+ (subscription required) to weight projections for 2026, and Sánchez is heavily favored in this particular category.
Stuff+ is a model used to determine the “nastiness” of a pitcher's arsenal based on the velocity, spin, movement, and other physical characteristics that play on the ball. It separates the pitcher's ability to manipulate pitches from the game element to isolate the best quality of every pitch thrown.
Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez ranks among the best in MLB in Stuff+ 2026 fantasy baseball projections
According to Sarris, Sánchez ranks as the fifth-best starter in fantasy heading into 2026. The left-hander has 117 Stuff+, which is the second-best behind Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal's 123 Stuff+ and tied with the Boston Red Sox's Garrett Crochet. For comparison's sake, Sánchez's teammate Jesús Luzardo is No. 33 in Sarris' rankings with 106 Stuff+, while Wheeler checks in at No. 39 with 110 Stuff+.
Sarris' model also gives Sánchez a 99 Location+ and a 116 Pitching+. He also references Sánchez's leap in effectiveness with his offspeed pitches along with his velocity jump from 2024 to 2025. Sánchez's average velocity on his sinker jumped 0.9 mph in just one year. His changeup (1.2 mph) and slider (1.3 mph) saw significant increases in velocity as well.
Sánchez wasn't particularly known as a strikeout pitcher in 2024, when he was climbing the rotation depth chart. He finished with 153 strikeouts in 181 2/3 innings. He was still establishing himself as a big league pitcher, logging as many innings as he was.
Sánchez came into camp in 2025 looking to stifle the competition with his increased velocity. He struck out 212 batters over 202 innings and also posted an 8.0 bWAR, the most by any pitcher in MLB. According to Statcast, his whiff rate went up on all his pitches, with his changeup becoming one of the best pitches in the entire sport. His changeup whiff rate of 45.1 percent was the third-highest in the majors, while his changeup strikeout rate of 40.9 percent was the second best.
Phillies fans have a lot of faith in Sánchez as he looks to hold down the rotation until Wheeler's return. He's proven worthy of that, and as the projections keep coming in to validate his present and future greatness, the more confident we can be, as Phillies fans and fantasy managers.