Monday, March 10

This edition of the Phillies Beat newsletter was written by Paul Casella.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Cristopher Sánchez is throwing the ball hard this spring. Like, really hard.

As crazy as it sounds, is it maybe too hard?

His sinker averaged 96.9 mph in his March 2 outing. On Friday, it averaged 97.0 mph.

This velocity is coming from a guy whose fastball averaged 94.5 mph last season. Sánchez has thrown six pitches of 98.0 mph or faster over the past week. He had one all of last season.

So, is there any concern that he's actually throwing too hard out of the gate?

"I think there is always a little bit," manager Rob Thomson said. "But he's really shown that he can handle it. I remember last year, he had a complete game, and the next day, he was throwing foul pole to foul pole long toss. He's just got that rubber arm and he's strong -- just a great athlete."

Sánchez has added velocity to each of his pitches this spring, and while many starters gradually up their velocity throughout the spring, he's showing it off from the jump. It's also worth noting that he's coming off pitching a career-high 186 2/3 innings (including the postseason) in 2024.

But Sánchez isn't at all worried about emptying the tank too early.

"Everything is feeling good," Sánchez said via team interpreter Diego D'Aniello. "We keep working and we're still focused. But I'm healthy, which is the most important thing."

Making this drastic leap in velocity all the more impressive is the fact that Sánchez already made a similar jump last year. His sinker averaged 94.5 mph in 2024, up from 92.1 mph in '23.

Not only did that increased velocity obviously help Sánchez's sinker last year, but it turned his already good changeup into the best changeup in the big leagues according to Run Value.

So, what could adding yet another couple miles per hour do for Sánchez's ceiling?

"Who knows? I mean, really, who knows?” Thomson said. “Right now, it's just filthy."

At the same time, the Phillies won't be scrambling if Sánchez's velocity ultimately regresses a bit toward last year's metrics. After all, he had a breakout season in 2024, going 11-9 with a 3.32 ERA, two complete games and one shutout, all while earning his first career All-Star nod and finishing 10th in NL Cy Young Award voting.

"Now, if he loses a little bit and he's 94, 95, we've seen that he's good with that," Thomson said. "So yeah, I'm really impressed by him."

Asked if those velocity numbers might also be inflated by throwing fewer pitches in these shorter spring outings, Sánchez said he's not even focused on what the radar gun says when he takes the mound.

"If I said that it was going to be like that [all season], then I would be lying -- because I don't think about that when I'm pitching," he said. "I don't focus on those things. I just go out and compete and get my pitches in and command the strike zone as best I can.

"If the velo is there, perfect. But if it's not there, then I'll just go out and attack."

Easy to say for a guy with an elite changeup and a sinker that only seems to get faster every year -- but that's not all.

While Sánchez relies primarily on that sinker (47.3% usage rate last season) and changeup (35.7%) combo, his slider (16.9%) emerged as another plus pitch down the stretch.

He hopes to utilize it even more in 2025.

"There's always something to work on," Sánchez said. "In my case right now, it's the slider. That's the goal right now."

Against which team did Sánchez throw his first career complete-game shutout last season?

A. Nationals
B. Marlins
C. Cubs
D. Pirates

With the Phillies’ regular-season home opener against the Rockies exactly three weeks away, tickets for the opening series can be purchased here. All fans attending the home opener on the afternoon of March 31 will receive a 2024 NL East champions pennant, while fans 15 and older who attend the April 2 contest will get an opening night T-shirt.

All of this season’s promotions can be found here.

Alec Bohm had a two-homer game against the O’s on March 2 and he narrowly missed another two-homer showing on Saturday vs. the Blue Jays.

Bohm appeared to hit a solo homer in the second inning, but after trotting around the bases and returning to the third-base dugout, Bohm was summoned back to the field by the umpires. They ultimately awarded him a ground-rule double after ruling the ball got lodged between the top of the green padding and the fence atop the right-center-field wall.

It was a weird play that left many confused, including a bunch of players in the Phillies’ dugout who said they’d never seen that happen before at BayCare Ballpark.

Not to be deterred, Bohm crushed a no-doubter that sailed over the left-center-field wall -- and all the padding on it -- just one inning later.

“He's healthy now, he's swinging the bat, he's really confident, he's playing great on defense,” Thomson said. “He's a complete player.”

Thomson also said over the weekend that he believes Bohm’s left hand was still bothering him down the stretch in 2024, though he says Bohm would never admit it. The third baseman missed two weeks in September with a strained left hand.

Though Bohm returned in mid-September, his production was nowhere near what it was during the first half on his way to earning the starting nod at third base for the NL All-Star team. After the disappointing end to the season, both for Bohm and the Phillies as a whole, his name was floated in trade rumors for much of the winter.

“He had a great attitude about it,” Thomson said. “He was like, 'Well, I can't control it, so I don't worry about it.' So that's good.”

Bohm’s strong start to the spring would seem to suggest that he has indeed put both his hand injury and the trade talk behind him.

B. Marlins

Sánchez tossed a three-hit shutout in the Phillies' 2-0 victory on June 28 at Citizens Bank Park. He struck out Josh Bell on his 101st and final pitch of the night to seal the shutout.

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