With the White Sox coming off one of the worst major league seasons in the history of baseball, the expectations are low. While this makes for a tough product to watch, it allows the White Sox to get creative with some of their moves, as they aren't expected to compete for anything meaningful in 2025.
This creates an opportunity for the White Sox to take fliers on former top-100 prospects and allow them to potentially get some significant playing time with no pressure, something that could unlock the potential of prospects who haven't seemed to figure it out to this point.
The White Sox missed out on the perfect signing earlier in the week, but there are still others out there that could fit that criteria and get some playing time with the White Sox this year. One of those players is Sixto Sanchez, the former top-75 prospect and Miami Marlins starting pitcher.
Sanchez was the key piece in the trade that sent J.T. Realmuto from the Miami Marlins to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2019. Sanchez would go on to make his major league debut the following year, throwing 39 innings in the COVID shortened year.
In those innings, Sanchez looked fantastic and many thought he would be an ascending star in the young Marlins rotation. As a 21 year old rookie, Sanchez had a 3.46 ERA and struck out 33 batters. He would go on to finish 7th in the Rookie of the Year voting.
Unfortunately for Sanchez, injuries have derailed his career to this point, as he was not able to play in 2021, 2022, or 2023 in the major leagues. Sanchez logged just one inning in the minor leagues in 2023.
Sanchez came back in 2024 and he looked rusty, but showed some flashes of why he was listed as a top pitching prospect. In 35 innings, he had a 6 ERA, while striking out just 17. His performance should be excused, as he hadn't pitched in the major leagues in almost four years.
3 strikeouts for Sixto Sánchez in his first start of the season (Austin Riley, Luis Guillorme & Austin Riley again) pic.twitter.com/tMutgJYY23
— Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) April 25, 2024
With the White Sox potentially looking to sign another starting pitcher, they should see what they can get out of Sanchez. While they have plenty of young arms that are capable of jumping into the starting rotation, it doesn't hurt to take a flier on Sanchez to see how he could do working with Ethan Katz and Brian Bannister.
A minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training would be a great low-risk, high-reward signing for the White Sox, as he could create extra competition for the young pitchers looking to make the team. Sanchez is still only 26 so there is a good chance that he could come back and be a very good starting pitcher.
