Jesus

Sanchez

Sánchez has done just enough this year to be back in his rightful place on every sleeper and breakout list ahead of next season. His home run was back-to-back with Connor Norby and was blasted an estimated 436 feet to straight away center field. The traits will always be tantalizing with Sánchez.

Sánchez was oh so happy to see a righty on the mound for the Dodgers tonight after five straight games versus southpaws. He’s batting .283/.339/.482 versus righties this season, compared to .137/.196/.211 against lefties. It’s his first career five-hit game. In fact, he never had even four hits in any of his previous 434 major league appearances.

This is the last of a string of five straight left-handed starters the Marlins have been matched up against. Sánchez started two of the previous four games and finished hitless both times. For the season, he’s batting just .141/.194/.217 in 99 plate appearances versus southpaws, and he’s setting himself up to be a strict platoon guy if the Marlins return to contention at some point.

Sanchez has hits in eight of his last nine games. He’s 11-for-24 (.458) with five runs, three RBI and three stolen bases in that time. Sanchez is hitting .251 with 17 home runs, 13 stolen bases and 59 RBI on the year.

Sánchez was back in Miami’s lineup on Friday night after missing a pair of contests due to back spasms.

The 26-year-old was removed from Tuesday’s game with a back spasm, and then the Marlins faced two straight left-handed pitchers, so it was a good time to let him heal up. As of now, we expect that Sánchez will return to the lineup for the final three games against right-handed pitching, but we’ll have to wait another day to find out. With Griffin Conine also sitting against a lefty, it will be David Hensley batting sixth and playing right field and Christian Pache batting eighth and playing center field.

It certainly doesn’t sound like a serious concern as Sánchez’s early exit seems like a precautionary measure. The 26-year-old corner outfielder was lifted during the second inning of Tuesday’s contest against the Nationals while picking up his 12th stolen base of the season. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

Sánchez singled off veteran lefty in the second inning before suffering an apparent injury while stealing second base a couple pitches later. He was replaced by pinch-runner David Hensley. There should be an additional update on his status shortly.

Sánchez was a spark for the Marlins twice on Tuesday night. His first hit was a double in the third inning that scored Connor Norby for the first run of the game for the Marlins after the Rockies ran out to a 6-0 win. Then, in the ninth inning with two runners on and the team down 8-6, Sánchez blasted a 396-foot home run at 101.3 mph to give the Marlins a one-run lead they’d never give back. The 26-year-old now has 17 home runs and 56 RBI and it’s about time the Marlins play him against left-handed pitchers so they can see just what he’d be able to do as a full-time player.

Sanchez provided all of Miami’s offense with a two-run single in the fifth inning. He’s 13-for-46 (.282) with three home runs, 10 RBI and one stolen base over his last 13 games. Sanchez is hitting .239 with a .709 OPS and 52 RBI on the season.