Sanchez gets call to Florida Marlins later than expected

A University of Miami product, Sanchez is filling the 25-man roster spot vacated late Monday when the Marlins optioned left-hander Andrew Miller to the Zephyrs. Sanchez was hitting .284 with nine homers, 39 RBI and a .791 on-base plus slugging percentage.

Going into spring training, Sanchez was expected to win the first-base job. He got off to slow start offensively and then injured a knee.

"It's always a disappointment when you're going into something knowing you have a chance to make the ball club and it doesn't happen," he said. "It's part of the game, and I can't just hang my head down and look at what's happened in the past. I have to rise above that and try to do my best now.

"My mind-set in April was to go down and have fun, play the game right and not think about what I need to do to get back here. I knew that if I went down and played the game the way I know how to play, eventually it was going to happen."

Sanchez's season almost ended prematurely. On May 3 he suffered a Grade 2 tear of his right medial collateral ligament while covering home plate. The initial prognosis called for four to six weeks of inactivity.

"That was a big blow," said Sanchez, who returned to the Zephyrs on June 6. "Going out there knowing I was doing well and I was having the type of season I wanted to have, to have that kind of a setback is tough. Mentally I tried not to let that get to me too much. … A month of not playing is a long time, but what it could have been was even greater. It could have been two months or season-ending if they needed to go in for surgery."



(sun-sentinel.com)