Scouting Report Alex Sanabia

I will admit I had never heard of Sanabia before learning he was starting the second game of the series. I know now he pitched against the Mets on June 30th and took the loss (2 innings, 1 earned run) in his second major league appearance.

The 21 year-old Sanabia was drafted in the 32nd round of the 2006 draft and made his debut this year on June 24th. In the minors he was 25-18 with a 3.72 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. He minimizes home runs (24 in 382 innings), and struck out a respectable 7 K/9 and a walk rate of 2.4 W/9. In the minors this year he was outstanding and was screaming to be called up, as he was 6-1 in 16 starts (98 innings), and sported a 1.92 ERA and a .89 WHIP between AA and AAA. This was largely aided by allowing only 2 home runs this year in 98 innings. He's not much of a hitter, as he was only 1-20 at the plate in the minors this year.

Sanabia is a 3-pitch pitcher, with a fastball (90 mph), a slider (85 mph) and change-up (82 mph). His pitch breakdown for the majors (caution small sample size) is: Fastball 55%, Slider 18% and change-up 27%. He throws 1st pitch strike 62% of the time, and 70% of his 1st pitch is a fastball.

So far this year he's 2-1, and 2-0 in his 5 starts. He's had 4 good starts, including his last start last week versus the Pirates ( 7 2/3 innings, 4 hits, 0 walks, 1 run and 5 k's). He's only thrown 80+ pitches in 2 of his 5 starts, so the Mets should work the count.

Sanabia didn't appear on any top 10 prospect list for the Marlins, so I really have no idea what scouts think of him besides relying on his minor league numbers this year, which have been good, but I would like to see more strike outs for a top prospect. But if he was a true prospect, some one would've noticed and talked him up...