Marlins righty Sixto Sanchez is set to undergo arthroscopic bursectomy surgery on his throwing shoulder on October 5th, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reports (via Twitter). Sanchez, currently Miami’s eleventh-ranked prospect according to MLB.com, is expected to be ready for Spring Training 2023.
Sanchez’s upcoming surgery represents another setback in what has become a multi-season recovery for a player who was previously ranked as the #6 prospect in the league by Baseball America. Originally signed by the Phillies in 2015 as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic, Sanchez was acquired by Miami in the 2019 deal that sent J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia. He debuted in August of the COVID-shortened season and initially appeared to be as good as advertised, striking out 29 batters while only walking five in his first 32 innings of work. By the end of the 2020 season, Sanchez had accumulated a 3.46 ERA over seven starts, had averaged 98.8 mph on his power sinker, and had demonstrated above-average control (seven percent walk rate). He finished seventh in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
The upcoming procedure will be Sanchez’s second in as many seasons. He underwent surgery to repair a small tear in the posterior capsule of the same shoulder in July of 2021 after the Marlins shut him down for more than a month due to shoulder discomfort. After missing all of 2021, Sanchez had begun to finally show some signs of progress in July of 2022, but was plagued with more shoulder discomfort after a simulated game in August. He then received a cortisone shot to aid his recovery, and had even resumed playing catch at 60 feet before he was scheduled for his second surgery.
If he is able to recover in time to rejoin the Marlins rotation by the start of 2023, he will fit nicely into one of the most talented young rotations in baseball. At age 24, Sanchez still has the potential to be a highly-effective big league starter for years to come. From a front office perspective, Sanchez has the potential to be another key cost-controlled rotation piece for the Miami, as he has not yet accumulated a year’s worth of big league service time. He’s spent the past couple seasons on the minor league injured list, so he hasn’t accrued any MLB service during his rehab time.
Of course, Sanchez must first make a complete recovery from the nagging shoulder injury that has derailed his previous two seasons. Both Sanchez and the Marlins surely hope that the upcoming procedure will help put his injury woes firmly in the rearview mirror. He’ll go into 2023 looking to throw his first major league pitch in three years.
I just hope Sanchez doesn’t become the next Anderson Espinoza.
Tommy John is easier on a pitcher’s career than a minor labrum tear in the shoulder.
Wishing him the best
How many times have we heard this before
8,643 times. Coincidentally, that’s the same number of pitching prospects the Marlins seemingly have.
Hopefully the surgery goes well. Similar to Mike Soroka with the Braves, hopefully he can get past his injuries and back on track.
His career is over before it really gets started
Sixto has never not been injured. Really pulling for him to have a healthy stretch in the bigs.
Shoulder surgery but ready by spring training? That is a rather fruitful/hopeful outlook…Ready by start of 2nd half? Ok maybe.
This is a relatively simple procedure that generally comes with a 6-12 week recovery time. (I’ve had 5 shoulder surgeries myself so I’m well versed in recovery times). It’s obviously different for a professional athlete than a park league pitcher like myself but this is not that invasive of a procedure and he should fully recover from it. The bigger concern is whether or not this procedure will address all of his shoulder woes. Even the best medical technology really can’t pick up every issue going on in a shoulder. I had an MRI and some procedure where they inject dye into the shoulder to see the damage. They diagnosed it correctly as a rotator cuff tear but the doctor was shocked how bad it was once he got in there. I was told it would be a 60-90 minute surgery. 5 hours & 12 anchors later, I was off the operating table and ready for my 12 month recovery period. It got me back on the field for a few years but my shoulder was never the same. Let’s hope Sixto only has a minor injury and we can all finally see how talented he is.
The good news is that Sixto just turned 24 years old so he has the potential to still have a solid 8-10 year MLB career if he can overcome all of his shoulder woes.
Shoulder issues are usually a death kneel in a players career… so many promising players became only okay after shoulder issues if that.
When the shoulder is repaired, they can take car of removing both of the Sixtos on each foot. That will avoid issues down the line.
I used to think that too, but it turns out he gets extra push off on the bonus toes!
Hopefully Sixto are the numbers of guys he strands and not his E.RA post op
Super talented. Hopefully he can get past his health woes. Easily see him finishing in cy young voting year after year if he can.
His career is over already. Unfortunate, but that’s like his third surgery already.
Marlins turned down Nimmo and more for Realmuto. In hind sight, pretty bad. Then again, how many little guys throw 100 without an injury killing their career? Not many.
Billy Wagner wasn’t a very big guy and threw octane.
@bryan c
Marlins actually wanted Conforto in that trade and turned Nimmo down because the guy can only walk and does nothing else. The Mets kept refusing to give Conforto and kept pushing Nimmo as the prime piece. Sorry, but that was not going to happen.
And look how that turned out for the Mets. Conforto is a ??? at this point in his career. And to keep Nimmo, because of the Mets Hyperbole Hype to overrate Nimmo, they will be overpaying him stupidly to keep his mediocrity after this season because he’s Alderdson’s boy.
Marlins dodged a bigger bullet with that trade, so they made the correct decision.
True. You named 1 guy that closed games rather than a starter. Pedro Martinez fits as well. Who else? Spencer Strider is headed this way too….
I really feel for sixto. Miami has made a complete mess of his situation. Delaying the surgery wasn’t any better either. It’s a shame because this guy had all the upside in the world to begin with.
Julio Urias went through similar shoulder troubles but finally got all the way back and rewarded me for my patience. I feel Sixto could follow a similar path, so I’ve held my shares of him hoping for a similar outcome.
I felt the Dodgers did a good job working him back through the bullpen and then eventually into the starter role. and he was really solid out of the bullpen too.
I hope Sixto ready he actually pretty good pitcher when he is.
Alex Reyes 2.0
Sixto must be plenty frustrated. Keep going, though, that’s the bottom line. Hope this is his last shoulder issue for a long while.
Marlins need to convert him to a closer IMO
Moving him to relief duties is one thing, but assuming someone who currently can’t even pitch should move directly to closer is a bit of a stretch. Let’s see if he returns healthy first.
@stretch123
At this point, the Marlins and Sanchez have nothing to lose but to try it. He’s got the stuff, but can’t stay healthy enough to pitch many innings. The Marlins need a Closer instead of this MRs that they hope will accidentally become a Closer.
Not gonna lie, I forgot the Fish had this guy
Two things:
1) this has the odor of a player being stubborn about no wanting a surgery until he realizes that he needs one after two years.
2) With the Marlins looking like they may have their starting 5 or 6, with some excess, I hope this makes them move Sixto to the bullpen – perhaps as the next contestant as the Marlins Closer.
But what will Sixto change?