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Jesús Sánchez is a 28-year-old, left-handed hitting, outfielder. The Jays traded Joey Loperfido to the Astros to pick him up. Loperfido will be 27 in May, so there isn’t that much difference in age. Sánchez has played 580 MLB games and has a 4.8 bWAR. Loperfido has played 122 games and has a 1.1 bWAR. We could debate which player will be the most valuable for the rest of their careers, but, if we are talking this season, I’d bet Jesús will be more valuable, and that’s more important to the Jays at the moment.
Jesús isn’t a free agent until 2028.
Sánchez was traded from the Marlins to the Astros at the deadline last year. With the Marlins he was hitting .256/.320/.420, with the Astros .199/.269/.342. David Popkins, Jays hitting coach, told Keegan Matheson:
Popkins: “He went over to Houston, and they had some ideas for him to change some things and I think they didn’t quite resonate with his personality and who he is as a hitter. It kind of went more towards weakness prevention than his strengths, so we’re shifting him back more towards, ‘We want you to do what you do well.’ Let’s start there, then we can go elsewhere. We’re just trying to see him have rhythm again and get his swing off. We’re excited. He’s had some good days the last couple of days.”
Basically, ‘the Astros ruined him’. I always take these things with a grain of salt. I think if you can hit you can hit and a batting coach shouldn’t be able to change that. Or at least ruin that. But I’m hopeful that Popkins will help him find his way back to the swing that made him valuable. I also think Popkins says that to build up Sánchez’s ego a bit. Sports physiology is a big thing.
The best thing about Sánchez is that he hits the ball hard, 93rd percentile in bat speed, 79th percentile in Average Exit Speed last year. The year before (when he was just with the Marlins) he was 95th percentile in Bat Speed, 93rd in Exit Velocity and 95th in Hard Hit %. He was 46th percentile in strikeout rate and 51st in walk rate.
Ideally, he is a low average/high power hitter (though he hasn’t cracked the 20 home run barrier yet). Career, his batting average is .239. I’m hoping he’ll do better than that this year. It would be nice if he had more than 20 home runs.
Defensively? He’s ok. Outs Above Average had him at a +1 in right field. Savant has him a 41st percentile in range and 80th percentile in Arm Strength.
He steals some bases too. 13 last year, caught 3 times.
Steamer has Sánchez playing in 88 games, hitting .248/.317/.427 with 13 home runs. Seems somewhat pessimistic to me.
I don’t know what to expect, but I think he’ll be playing against right-handers everyday (presuming no injury issues). I’d like to think the batting coaches can unlock his power and he hits a few more than 13 home runs.
I think there are lots of reasons to be optimistic. He was a little unlucky last year. His strikeout rate improved a lot last year. I’m taking Popkins at his word that Popkins can improve his swing from last year.