When does Marlins prospect Sixto Sanchez arrive in Miami?

The Marlins top minor league prospect, Sixto Sanchez, is still developing as a potential ace of the team’s pitching staff in the future.

Andre C. Fernandez of The Athletic brought up a great question as to when Marlins fans could expect the team’s first-round draft pick, J.J. Bleday, would make it to the Majors. The Vanderbilt star is still at least two seasons away from making a direct impact in South Florida.

If it does take that long to develop Bleday, who has power and middle-of-the-order ability, when can fans expect to see the organization’s top minor league prospect, pitcher Sixto Sanchez, in a Marlins uniform?

It a topic that should be explored more. As it has been discussed here at Marlin Maniac, the Marlins are blessed with riches on the mound, where minor league talent has been brought up to replace injured starters in the rotation. And with more arms at all three levels of the Marlins farm system, it’s hard to get a read if who will move forward, who is destined to become a bullpen pitcher and who might get traded.

The discussion of Sanchez’s arrival in Miami is still open for debate since he is still learning how to become a more effective pitcher at Double-A Jacksonville in the Southern League. By the way, he reminds me of Pedro Martinez in stature and how he throws a baseball.

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The Marlins pitching prospects have been the topic of conversation long before the start of the 2019 season. With Elieser Hernandez, Jordan Yamamoto and Zac Gallen all entrenched as a part of the staff, the next obvious question to ask is who is next?

It won’t be Sanchez.

Per Kevin Kraczkowski of Marlin Maniac, Hector Noesi could be the guy who gets that call?

“Hector Noesi (10-4, 3.21) picked up his PCL-leading 10th win of the season (tied with the Iowa Cubs’ Colin Rea, a Miami Marlins pitcher for three innings one time) over the Sounds with 10,208 raucous fans in the house at First Tennessee Park,” he writes.

Sanchez has a plus fastball, but he needs to continue to work on consistency on the mound. He must also work on his secondary pitches beside a fastball that reaches 99 on the gun. With youth on his side, he’s only 20, the Marlins should take time to develop him as the next great ace on the staff.

Per his scouting report, “When healthy, Sanchez has perhaps the best combination of electric stuff and command of any pitcher in the Minor Leagues. He might appear undersized at six-feet tall, but he’s deceptively strong, with an athletic and repeatable delivery. Sanchez throws both a two- and four-seam fastball, the former thrown with a lot of sink to get ground-ball outs and the latter cranked up to triple digits at times.”

Nick Neidert, Braxton Garrett, Gallen, and Jorge Guzman are ranked in Miami’s top 10 prospects as well. While Gallen is already there, when can these three other flamethrowers expect to be rewarded for their efforts?

It should be Neidert, with Guzman and then Garrett falling into place.

I suspect the Marlins will closely monitor Sanchez’s progress with a promotion to Triple-A New Orleans next season. After that, it’s anyone’s guess when he will move once again. For now, the thing the Marlins should be most concerned about is making sure Sanchez develops at a steady pace. There is no need to rush his progress.