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Aaron Sanchez

Born: 07/01/1992 (Age: 21)
Bats: Right Throws: Right
Height: 6' 4" Weight: 210
Mechanics
Big, tall, and athletic; long arms and relatively short torso; sloped shoulders; won't add much mass to frame; delivery remains inconsistent; exceptionally fast arm; arm action is fairly short; gets from the glove to the start of the arm motion in a hurry; frequently starts fall toward plate too early; needs to stay at balance point longer to establish base and drive from there; arm slot moves from pitch to pitch; will fly open and even his quick arm can drag as a result; athleticism is evident but doesn't translate to consistency in mechanics; doesn't demonstrate feel for making corrections on the fly; likely to always have difficulty repeating delivery for long stretches; consistent 1.31-1.35 to the plate.
Evaluator Mark Anderson
Report Date 06/18/2014
Affiliate New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA, Blue Jays)
Dates Seen 4/13/2014 and 6/8/2014
OFP 65
MLB ETA Late-2014
Video No
Pitch Type Future Grade Sitting Velocity Peak Velocity Report
Fastball 70 93-95 97 Fastball works 94-95 in windup; velo dips to 91-93 in stretch; becomes more deliberate with pitch in stretch; with experience and comfort, stretch velo should approach windup velo; pitch features plus-plus run; tons of movement; difficult for batter to square; at its best, pitch explodes at hitters; can be dominating offering when on; at its worst, consistently lost up and arm side; doesn't work up in the zone with conviction, rather as a mistake; unhittable when working the lower quarter of the zone; devastating pitch.
Curveball 70 81-82   Shows two variations of pitch; harder in 81-82 mph range with tight rotation and sharp snap at the plate; harder variety offers 11-5 shape with biting action; slower pitch in 78-79 range; slower variety offers more 12-6 shape; both pitches are easy plus and more consistent feel with both will allow the combination to play to plus-plus level; harder breaking ball has plus-plus potential on its own merit; took a while to gain feel for harder breaking ball in both outings; once feel was gained, he moved it in and out of zone when he wanted; slower pitch typically only thrown in the zone and almost seemed to take the place of changeup at times; second high-end offering.
Changeup 45 86-89   Poor pitch in both outings; lacks feel for offering; consistently misses up with CH; lacked consistent movement but showed occasional dive that didn't seem repeatable; almost always overthrown and way too firm; needs to let the grip do the work; question whether feel will ever develop enough for average third pitch; stayed away from it in tight spots; seemed to use slower curveball as change-of-pace offering instead of changeup.
Overall

Lots to like with fastball, curveball and body; looks the part on the mound; very confident; shows emotion on the bump but doens't get overly dramatic; both fastball and curveball can be dominating and frequently showed plus-plus potential; feel for changeup is limited and holds him back from really keeping hitters off balance; limited command profile keeps fastball and curveball from dominating they way their raw grades suggest; easy to see very high ceiling given tools but difficult to see the package coming together; reminds me a lot of AJ Burnett in many ways; will look brilliant at times and lost at others; mid-rotation starter that will have streaks where he can shows more than that.

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