Sánchez looks regular-season ready on Day 1

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CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Cristopher Sánchez’s fastball lit up the scoreboard on Tuesday in Port Charlotte.

It flashed 96s, 97s and 98s.

“It was legit,” Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs said the next morning at BayCare Ballpark. “It’s crazy that he’s doing that the first outing of spring. We’ve definitely seen it. That’s why he got the [contract] extension he did. I don’t know, my expectations for that guy feel limitless because of how far he’s come in the last year and a half. Did he meet my expectations [Tuesday]? I don’t really know. I don’t have expectations for him because he’s always getting better and better.”

Sánchez, 28, went 11-9 with a 3.32 ERA in 31 starts last season, throwing a career-high 181 2/3 innings with a 3.4 bWAR that ranked fifth on the team behind Zack Wheeler, Bryce Harper, Aaron Nola and Kyle Schwarber. He made his first National League All-Star team.

But Sánchez got to camp this month not only stronger but with an improved slider that he hopes will take him to another level. In his Grapefruit League debut against the Rays on Tuesday, he allowed one hit and struck out three in two scoreless innings.

“Yesterday, it felt like when I was calling sinker in, here comes a sinker in,” Stubbs said. “Changeup early in the count, strike changeup, two-strike changeup. Down and away -- there it was, down and away. Backdoor slider -- here it comes, backdoor slider. It felt like he was able to accomplish all the things that he was asked to do. And it was Day 1 of spring.”

The Phillies should have one of baseball’s best rotations this season if everybody stays healthy. Wheeler, Nola and Ranger Suárez get most of the attention. Jesús Luzardo is new, which makes him intriguing. Andrew Painter (MLB Pipeline’s No. 8 overall prospect) is the organization’s most promising homegrown pitching prospect since Cole Hamels, which makes him exciting.

It feels like Sánchez still flies under the radar -- outside of Philadelphia, anyway.

Perhaps that changes this year.

“Obviously, the changeup is one of the best, if not the best, in the league,” Stubbs said. “If you throw 98 [mph], that’s going to be up there for most elite fastball in the league. If you mix in a slider that is maybe league average, you have a potential Cy Young Award-winning pitcher.”

Sánchez’s sinker averaged 94.5 mph last year, up 2.4 mph from 2023. His fastball velocity ranked ninth out of 35 left-handed starters who threw 750 or more fastballs last season.

He thinks his sinker could sit in the 95 to 96 mph range this year.

“Last year, I pitched 180 innings, the most in my career,” Sánchez said through the team’s interpreter. “So I just wanted to make sure that my body was in good shape for this year, to get stronger and go through this year healthy without an injury.”

But Sánchez said he won’t sacrifice strike-throwing ability for velocity.

“I think that I'm mature enough now to throw hard and also locate it in the strike zone,” he said. “Different points in the strike zone as well.”

It would make Sánchez’s elite changeup even nastier. His slider was a good pitch last year, but it was inconsistent. Sometimes it backed up on him. Sometimes it had big break. Sometimes it had tighter break.

Sánchez threw the slider 16.9 percent of the time. Opponents batted only .219 with a .368 slugging percentage against it.

“I threw it a little more like a curveball before,” Sánchez said. “It had a little more vertical break, and now it's a little more horizontal. I think it can help me. My sinker going in, and I think that's a good combo with my changeup as well. That breaks a little and goes away on left-handed hitters. That way I can go in on hitters as well with the slider.”

Tuesday was a fun day for Sánchez. It was fun for the Phillies, too.

“If we could bottle that up, we’d be in good shape,” manager Rob Thomson said.