Collette Calls: Aaron Sanchize?

On Saturday night, Aaron Sanchez pitched six of the nine no-hit innings by Astros pitching as he, Joe Biagini and Chris Devenski combined to throw the organization's 12th no-hitter.

Sanchez began 2019 with three wins in his first six starts, but his last 17 starts with Toronto had an unsightly stat line of a 0-13 record with a 7.49 ERA and a .901 opponents' OPS. That stat line was thrown around a few times Sunday morning as people covered Sanchez's first outing with Houston, but that also overlooks some recent progress he had made before the trade. His final two outings for Toronto came against Cleveland and Tampa Bay, and he struck out 16 batters over those two outings while walking none of them. He took four earned runs in the game against Tampa Bay as he stayed in the game for a third time through the lineup and allowed two singles before a double plated both runners. Sanchez was removed and his replacement promptly allowed the runner to score. 

Many eyes were on Sanchez's first start with Houston because of the organization's reputation to do to pitchers what the Property Brothers do to houses to inflate their values. Gerrit Cole should tithe 10 percent of his next contract to the organization for inflating his value the way they have. The club picked up where Milwaukee left off with Wade Miley and has squeezed more juice from him. Ryan Pressly was not exactly broken with Minnesota, but the Astos have taken him to a new level of effectiveness since acquiring him last year. Earlier this year, The Ringer gave us a nice look into what Houston does with pitchers in their review of the book entitled The MVP Machine:

No more than fifteen minutes after he finished unpacking in the clubhouse, Pressly was summoned into a meeting. In attendance were Astros pitching coach Brent Strom, bullpen coach Doug White, and multiple analysts from the front office. The Astros, Pressly learned, had a plan for him to be better, and the analysts launched into the details. "They sat me down and they put up all these x, y charts and all this other stuff," Pressly says. "It almost sounded like they were speaking in a different language. I just raised my hand and said, 'Guys, just tell me what to throw and not to throw.'" They told him his two-seam fastball to lefties was ineffective but that they loved his curve and hoped he'd throw it more. They also suggested he elevate his four-seam fastball and throw his slider slightly more to make his fastball more effective.

When Cole reported to spring training, the Astros pulled him into a conference room for an hour-long, personalized pitching pitch. Seated at the head of the table, Cole listened as the brain trust told him they'd been watching and trying to trade for him for almost two years. They laid out what they liked and what they thought could be better. "You don't scare the player by telling them there's this massive overhaul," Hinch says. "Certainly not Gerrit Cole." Every recommendation was backed up by video, heat maps, and clear explanations. Cole describes his reaction as "mind blown" and says, "I'd never experienced any meeting like that, at all."

It is likely Sanchez had a very similar meeting to Cole in that the two are quite similar in previous approach. Both have big fastballs, big curveballs, and yet struggled to strike people out at rates we expect from pitchers with their type of stuff. In Sanchez's case, he was throwing his fastballs nearly 60 percent of the time. His sinker was is primary fastball as he used it 37 percent of the time, and the overall value of his fastball has dropped precipitously since its apex in the 2016 season.

As Jeff Zimmerman so perfectly put it, that meeting between Brent Strom and Aaron Sanchez likely went like this:

Saturday night, 20 percent of Sanchez's pitches were sinkers, which was the third-lowest percentage of sinkers he has used in a contest in 2019.  The more noticeable change was that he threw 28 curveballs, which was the highest percentage of curveballs he has used in any outing this season. The four-seam usage last night barely made its way into the top 10 of his game usage this year, but the 30 he threw in his Astros debut equaled the total he threw over his final two starts with Toronto. 

The pitch plot from his final start in Toronto showed a typical outing by Sanchez with Toronto; one that worked side to side and down in the zone.

Sanchez's first pitch plot with the Astros shows an immediate change in philosophy 

Note how many pitches are now up in the zone for him and how he moved the ball up and down more than side to side. Changeups mostly out of the zone (where they belong!), curveballs to the edges, and fastballs nearly all up in the zone.

This should all be taken with a giant helping of a reminder this was a Seattle lineup that has now been no-hit twice since the All-Star Break, but seeing immediate changes to Sanchez's approach is what his few remaining owners were hoping for down the stretch. To be fair, this train has been coming down the tracks the past 100 plate appearances:

His last three outings have looked very good, and now that he has run support and a bullpen to watch his back, the rest of the season could be quite good for him as long as he can avoid yet another injury setback or blisters.