Giants Sanchez Could Lose Starting Role
By Editorial Staff
While we’ve already learned that his wildness on the mound will cause one player to miss significant time, Jonathan Sanchez’s untamed arsenal may also result in the pitchers removal from his starting role.
After Sanchez’s 4.2 inning 6 walk outing last night, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy sounded unsure about what the club is going to do with the current starter.
"“I can see a little difference in him,” Bochy said. “He doesn’t quite have that — the word ‘swagger’ gets used too much — but it’s the way he carries himself.”"
If you take a look at several of Sanchez’s stats this season, you wouldn’t think anything was wrong with the 28 year old. He’s logged 89.2 innings for San Francisco, striking out 92 batters over that span. He’s produced a 3.81 ERA on the year and has held hitters to an impressive batting average of .212.
The Achilles heel for Sanchez has been the same thing he’s dealt with throughout his career, his command. The left hander has walked nearly 6 batters for every 9 innings he’s pitched. He’s already issued free passes to 25 men this month, allowing 5 or more base on balls in 4 of his last 5 starts.
Sanchez’s wildness results in more pitches being thrown which equals shorter outings. He hasn’t made it past the 7th inning this season, and has only logged more than 6 innings in 3 of his 16 starts.
What makes the situation even more interesting is the pending return of Giants’ starter Barry Zito. The club initially thought Zito would have to be used out of the pen because of lack of room in the rotation, but Bochy hasn’t ruled anything out yet.
"“What we end up doing, I can’t say right now,” Bochy said. “We may keep him (Sanchez) out there; we may back him off a little bit.”"
Sanchez continues to state that he is healthy, but he’s just having trouble finding the plate. It is an issue that is obviously bothering San Francisco as they battle the Diamondbacks for first place in the West. If this isn’t something Sanchez can figure out quickly, it may be a problem he has to solve outside of the Giants’ rotation.