PHILADELPHIA — Cole Hamels stands behind the mound in the Philadelphia Phillies’ home bullpen at Citizens Bank Park, watching Cristopher Sánchez throw during a between-starts session.
The 2008 World Series MVP isn’t captivated by Sánchez’s velocity. Instead, his eyes are drawn to his mechanics: Every pitch that leaves the left-hander’s hand looks nearly identical – a trait that has helped turn him into one of the National League’s top starting pitchers.
Advertisement
“If I didn’t see him give the pitch, I would think they’re the same because his mechanics look the exact same,” Hamels tells USA TODAY Sports of what he sees with Sánchez. “His arm action and his release point are the same. You can see the spin and it looks identical.
“There’s slight variations (in his mechanics), but you can’t see that with the human eye.”
MLB All-Star Game starting lineups: Mike Trout, Kyle Schwarber lead off
Sánchez is set to make his first All-Star Game start for the National League on Tuesday, July 14 at 8 p.m. ET in front of the hometown crowd at Citizens Bank Park.
Getting the nod from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts makes Sánchez the first Phillies pitcher to start the Midsummer Classic since Roy Halladay in 2011, serving as a culminating moment for the Dominican Republic native’s rise in the Phillies organization.
Advertisement
“Pretty special, really exciting, even more so than being here at home,” Sánchez said on Monday at All-Star Media Day. “I’m just super excited so I can come here tomorrow and just take it all in and enjoy it overall. … It’s a result of a lot of discipline and a lot of hard work that we put throughout the season.”
Sánchez’s journey began as a 16-year-old in the Tampa Bay Rays system after he was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2013. He was traded to the Phillies in 2019 for then-Phillies prospect Curtis Mead after the Rays did not add him to their 40-man roster.
It took a few spot starts and trips up and down from Triple-A Lehigh Valley before Sánchez earned a spot in the rotation. He ultimately had a breakout season in 2024, when he went 11-9 with a 3.32 ERA in 181⅔ innings after going 3-5 in 18 starts with a 3.44 ERA the year prior.
Since then, Sánchez has emerged as one of baseball’s top pitchers, finishing as the NL Cy Young Award runner-up last season – a race in which he’s once again firmly entrenched.
Advertisement
“A lot of guys are so focused on velocity and swing-and-miss and striving for that swing-and-miss. I feel like he’s just trying to throw strikes,” Hamels said. “He’s not trying to nibble and he’s not trying to shy away from bats and barrels. He’s out there throwing strikes, being consistent in the zone and allowing his pitches to work.”
Sánchez is 11-4 with a 2.62 ERA and 144 strikeouts – third-most in the majors – in 127⅓ innings pitched this season.
Hamels said with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola anchoring down the rotation at the time, he believed it allowed Sánchez to just “be himself” and develop trust with his pitches as he gained more big-league experience and reps.
Advertisement
He also said he believes Sánchez being around Ranger Suárez – another left-handed, homegrown success for the Phillies, now with the Boston Red Sox – was just as beneficial. Suárez is not an overpowering arm but one that leans on command and pitch sequencing, something that Sánchez now mirrors.
“I really do think Sánchez watched that and realized, ‘Wait a sec, I can do that too. I’m just going to do it with about four or five miles per hour more. Why would I overstress? Why do I try to overdo it?'” Hamels said.
“I think that’s really helped him stay within his mechanics and stay within his arm slot and trusting the fact that whenever he is behind in a count, he can get out of it because he’s seen guys do it with a little bit lesser sort of stuff.”
That approach carried over into Sánchez’s pitch mix. Rather than having a large arsenal, he has largely relied on three pitches: sinker, changeup and slider. With this simple approach, Sánchez doesn’t necessarily need to show off his velocity. That instead allows him to just throw strikes and be consistent in the zone.
Advertisement
“He’s not trying to get too complicated,” Hamels said of Sánchez’s minimum-arsenal approach. “Because of that, it allows him to stay more fluid and be able to repeat his delivery because he’s not having to add different arm angles or different sorts of breaking pitches.
“He really does keep it simple.”
Sánchez’s usage of the sinker, his fastball pitch, is slightly down this season from last year. He’s thrown it 42.4% of the time, compared to 46% from last season. But it’s still effective, which Hamels attributes to Sanchez’s lengthy 6-foot-6 frame and position on the left-hand side of the mound toward first base.
“It’s coming at such a sharp angle that a lot of hitters are looking for the sinker but you don’t know the vertical drop and what type of run that it’s going to have,” Hamels said. “It has more run and drop than I think most guys’ sinkers do from that angle.”
Advertisement
His changeup – which Kansas City Royals All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. called one of the best pitches in baseball – remains his bread-and-butter punch-out pitch, which Hamels believes is a byproduct of Sánchez recognizing hitters are OK with letting a changeup fool them in an at-bat – compared to letting a 90-plus-mph fastball blow by them.
“No one hits his combo,” Roberts said on Monday during his news conference.
His whiff and chase rates are both up this season as well: He’s in the 98th percentile of MLB pitchers with a 38.4% chase rate, while his whiff rate is in the 91st percentile (32.3%).
Advertisement
“Oh jeez. That’s a sinker and a change that look exactly the same,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman told USA TODAY Sports on Monday. “… It’s just not a fun at-bat.”
Freeman added with a joke: “When we don’t draw him in a three-game series, I’m OK with that,”
Earlier this season, Sánchez ran a streak of 50⅔ scoreless innings that spanned six starts, a streak that ranks fifth all-time and finished nine innings short of topping Orel Hershiser’s all-time record of 59.
In the midst of his streak, Sánchez broke the Phillies’ longest scoreless streak record, previously owned by Grover Cleveland Alexander for 115 years. His 50⅔ scoreless innings are the most by a left-handed pitcher in MLB history, as well.
Advertisement
“That was so impressive,” Hamels said. “We’ve never seen anything like that in a long time. So to get as close up to Orel Hershiser’s record in this day and age, that’s very difficult to do.”
Hamels said Sánchez still has some room to evolve, including building up his “bag of tricks” and different sequences for the postseason, something of which he has encouraged the southpaw to work on in the bullpens that he has sat in.
“It’s just learning tricks,” Hamels said. “… There’s so much research now going into trying to beat you that you have to then have some certain surprises that you can feel confident doing.”
Advertisement
In the meantime, Sánchez will continue to prepare for his All-Star Game start and the second half, where he is one of the leading Cy Young contenders alongside the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jacob Misorowski.
It’s a race Hamels believes Sánchez can separate himself from — if he keeps it simple.
“He’s good with what he’s doing,” Hamels said. “If he consistently just keeps putting up the numbers, people are recognizing it now. … That’s where the votes come.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Cristopher Sánchez has transformed into an All-Star Game starter and MLB ace
