Blue Jays bring former All-Star pitcher Aaron Sanchez back into the organization
The Toronto Blue Jays have brought back a familiar face back into the fold.
Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell reported this afternoon that the club is signing Aaron Sanchez to a minor-league deal.
#BlueJays to sign RHP Aaron Sanchez to minor league deal, per source.
— Jamie Campbell (@SNETCampbell) May 6, 2024
The 31-year-old Sanchez has had quite a strange journey in the major leagues. A former first-round draft pick of the Blue Jays in 2010, Sanchez became a fixture on the Jays for six seasons between 2014 and 2019.
At his peak, he was considered the Blue Jays’ ace in the pitching rotation and finished seventh in Cy Young voting in 2016 after posting a 15-2 record and 3.00 ERA in 30 starts. This also earned him an appearance at the All-Star Game that year.
Unfortunately, Sanchez couldn’t replicate that season, as a string of odd injuries involving his fingernails and finger eventually forced the team to shut him down near the end of the 2017 season. He wasn’t the same since.
After a few more disappointing seasons, the Blue Jays decided to trade Sanchez to the Houston Astros at the 2019 trade deadline. Since then, the California native has had stints with the San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, and Minnesota Twins.
He hasn’t started a game in the MLB since 2022 and spent all of last season playing in the minor leagues in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.
Bringing him back to the organization won’t do much to solve the Blue Jays’ current woes, but it will serve as a full-circle moment for a struggling Sanchez. If all goes well in the minors, there could be an outside chance he eventually takes the mound in his old ballpark.
Only time will tell if this winds up being a feel-good story in the making.
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