'Who is this little guy?' Sanoja makes big impression in 1st MLB start

MIAMI – Don’t be fooled by the baby face and small stature.

Marlins No. 14 prospect Javier Sanoja showed he belongs in The Show by recording an RBI in his Major League debut on Saturday, then following that up with two hits in his first start on Sunday.

No. 3 prospect Connor Norby tallied his first career multihomer game and Griffin Conine added three hits as rookies powered the Marlins in Sunday afternoon’s 10-1 victory over the Phillies at loanDepot park.

“I was like, ‘Who is this little guy? He mashes, he just rakes, he hits everybody and everything,’” Norby said of Sanoja. “I'm glad he's up here. And I said when he got here, I was like, ‘This kid might be our best hitter in our lineup.’ And that's not discrediting [Jake] Burger or [Xavier Edwards] or Griffin Conine or [Jonah Bride] or anyone else. But he rakes, and you guys saw a little bit of that today.”

According to MLB Pipeline’s scouting report, the 5-foot-7 Sanoja repeatedly puts the ball in play to all fields with a simple right-handed stroke. He did just that in Sunday’s finale.

Sanoja, who turned 22 on Tuesday, crushed Phillies No. 15 prospect Seth Johnson’s hanging slider to the right-center gap for a leadoff double in the second. With runners at the corners and one out during the seven-run fourth, Sanoja pulled Johnson’s two-strike changeup for an RBI single (105.3 mph exit velocity). When Nick Fortes doubled, Sanoja scored from first with a sprint speed of 28.9 ft/sec (27 ft/sec is average, 30 ft/sec is elite).

“He doesn't punch out,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “You can tell when it was two strikes that he was digging in even deeper. He was going to force [Johnson] to come inside the strike zone. He was going to make him beat you. He wasn't going to go outside the strike zone. So for a young player to do that, [it’s] pretty special. He made it up here quick. He was in the [Dominican Summer League] like three years ago. Honestly, he still looks like he could be in the DSL how young he is, but it's pretty cool to see him up here.”

It has been a whirlwind 2024 for Sanoja, who signed out of Maracay, Venezuela, as an international free agent five years ago but didn’t make his professional debut until ‘21 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A non-roster invitee at big league camp this season, Sanoja received a promotion to Triple-A Jacksonville after a 15-game stretch at Double-A Pensacola to start the season. With the Jumbo Shrimp, he posted a slash line of .291/.354/.431 with more walks (44) than strikeouts (30) in 111 games.

“I'm also surprised,” Sanoja said pregame Saturday via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “It was very, very fast, but I will say a lot of improvement thanks to winter ball. Venezuelan baseball is very deep. I have a lot of help from veterans over there that gave me a lot of new knowledge that when I came into this camp, I was able to put that knowledge into play, and here we are now.

“I'm that guy that, since he was born, loved baseball. What I do, loving this game, it means my life. I model myself to Jose Altuve, and so he motivated me for many years, and I'm grateful to be now on the big league level. Just loving baseball. And that's Javier Sanoja.”

Being Sanoja means providing energy and good at-bats.

Like Conine did in Denver last week, Sanoja made his debut as a pinch-hitter on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s start. In doing so, Sanoja became the youngest Marlins position player to debut since teammate Jose Devers (21 years, 138 days) on April 24, 2021.

With one out and runners at second and third in the seventh, Sanoja sent veteran right-hander Taijuan Walker’s first-pitch sweeper to short, where Trea Turner’s throw home got away from catcher Garrett Stubbs and scored two runs. It went down as an RBI fielder’s choice.

Despite knocking some milestones out of the way, Sanoja still felt the rush of emotions before running out to center field for Sunday’s start. He got over it quickly as the first ball of the game found him for a flyout. By the eighth, Sanoja had taken over at shortstop. Minutes after the final out, his teammates celebrated his performance.

“It was a really cold shower, many other things,” Sanoja said. “It was very special. I think these are the things that you're going to remember along the road, your debut with your teammates as a rookie, getting this situation.”