May 11, 2026
John Jones/Imagn Images
Cris Sánchez has had an unusual, but still incredibly impressive start to the season.
Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez is having a great and unusual start to his season.
Pitching yet another gem at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday in a 6-0 Phillies win, Sánchez tossed seven scoreless innings to extend his active scoreless innings streak to 20.2 innings. That seems very Sánchez like.
"Sánchy’s been on a roll," manager Don Mattingly told reporters Sunday. "I know it’s been a while since he’s given up a run. His mix is just tough, right? His fastball is not a fastball. It’s got movement to both sides of the plate. He’s a handful. This guy, he’s really good.”
One could argue that no pitch has been better than Sánchez' changeup this season. According to Baseball Savant, the pitch is tied for the highest value (9.0) of any pitch this season in any player's arsenal. Opponents are hitting .152 against it and have a ridiculous 50% whiff rate when they see his change up. Just 10.2% of the time do hitters get good contact on the pitch (seventh best in the majors).
But here's when things start to get weird.
Hitters just seem ready for his sinker — one of the pitches that helped him to a Cy Young runner up performance in 2025. He's been shredded this year on the pitch.
Here's a look at this year versus last year when Sánchez throws his speedy sinker:
| 2025 | 2026 | |
| Velocity | 95.4 MPH | 94.9 MPH |
| Run Value | 19 | -2 |
| BAA | .269 | .350 |
| Whiff % | 14.5% | 13.2% |
| Hard hit % | 50.5% | 59.5% |
The hits are piling up, but somehow those hits aren't hurting Sánchez.
The big Phillies lefty leads all NL pitchers in WAR (2.4), is second in innings pitched, is fourth in ERA (2.11), second in strikeouts and in the top 10 in walk rate. He's attacking hitters, with a key to his success a 70.3% first strike rate. Those sound like Cy Young numbers.
And yet, he's also allowed the second most total hits in the National League, behind only Michael Lorenzen, who has a 6.92 ERA this season. Understandably, he's also faced the second most total hitters in the NL this year. His batting average against is .260, one of the 10 highest averages among qualified starters.
Despite having just a 2.3 walks per nine free pass rate, he has the 11th highest WHIP in the majors among qualified pitchers (1.283) — up from 1.064 last season.
Part of that is helped by Sánchez limiting the long ball, having surrendered just three homers all season. He's also given up nine infield hits (second most in the NL) which are often weakly hit balls and bad luck. The bad luck is stretched across the Phillies' elite pitching staff, with three starters on the team appearing in the top six leaderboard for batting average on balls hit in play (BABIP) — Sánchez is fourth at .360. There's absolutely nothing a pitcher can do about that.
These are a lot of numbers to consider. But what do they all mean?
Sánchez is one of the best pitchers in the sport, and he's been doing it the hard way. He's pitched a lot with runners on base, maneuvering around mistakes to limit damage. In fact, only Sandy Alcántara has pitched more with runners on base (105 at bats to Sánchez' 103).
He's gone six or more innings in four of his last five starts, with his last two total dominant shutout appearances. When times get tough, Sánchez can battle through it. And when he's at the top of his game, nobody is better.
“That’s the goal,” Sánchez said via team interpreter Diego D’Aniello (h/t The Athletic), “to throw seven, eight, nine — if possible — innings. That’s always going to be my goal. And we back each other up and feed off each other. So I’m good today, but maybe one of the starting pitchers is better than I am today, tomorrow.”
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