Scouting Report LHP Jonathan Sanchez

This 27 year old left-hander was drafted in the 27th round of the 2004 draft by the Giants out of Ohio Dominican University, thinking that they could fix his mechanics. He dominated minor league hitters from the start, striking out close to 12 per 9 innings. He climbed up the prospect rankings, peaking at #2 on baseball america's list before the 2007 season. He continued to get the strike-outs once he got to the majors (9.28 K/9 for his career), but he has also walked > 4.5/9. He made history last year when he threw a no-hitter in July, and over his next 10 starts he turned in six quality starts, 75 strikeouts versus 27 walks in 59 2/3 innings. But then he reverted back to his inconsistent self, and in the last five starts of the year, he failed to get out of the sixth inning, allowing 36 base-runners and six home runs in 25 innings pitched.  For his career against the Mets, he's 2-1 with a 4.18 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. He went seven innings in his start on May 7th against the Mets, allowing four earned runs, while walking only one, but let up three home runs (two versus Ike Davis, one vs Barajas).

He has a live arm and throws from a 3/4 arm slot. He has a sneaky fast 91-94 mph fastball, and compliments it with a biting slider (80 mph) and a split finger/change up (80 mph) that runs down and away from righties. Scuffles with his mechanics and command at times and loses focus with adversity (sound like Ollie P??). He's a fly-ball pitcher, who misses a ton of bats (9.3 K/9 for career, 9.0 K/9 this year), but also walks a bunch (4.65 W/9 career, 4.6 W/9 for the year). His slider was his most effective pitch last year, but this year his fastball has been his only plus pitch. He throws 1st pitch fastball 77% of the time and he still leans on his slider with two strikes, throwing 50% of the time when the count is 0-2 or 1-2.




This year he's 7-6 with a 3.47 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. He's failed to go six innings or more in 9 of his 18 starts.  His last start versus the Nationals he didn't escape the 4th inning, allowing five hits and five runs, while walking two and striking out six.

Multiple scouts have made the comp to OLIVER PEREZ (prior to this year, when Perez actually had good stuff).  For those reading at home, that's not good. Overall he has filthy stuff, but like Oliver Perez, can lose focus and command quickly.