Young Luis Sanchez Shows Easy Velocity

The opening of the Orioles’ instructional camp enabled prospects to get more work beyond their homes during the pandemic. But it also allowed team officials to gauge the development of international players who signed last year.

Such players were denied games in the Dominican Summer League this year because of the cancellation of the minor league season.

Righthander Luis Sanchez kept grabbing the attention of Chris Holt, the organization’s director of pitching who was elevated to big league pitching coach this offseason. Holt provided detailed reports to senior director of international scouting Koby Perez.

Sanchez displayed impressive velocity, especially for a 17-year-old.

The maturity of his fastball contradicted his age.

“Holty told me Sanchez is touching mid 90s,” Perez said. “(Holt) thinks there’s going to be more in there because there’s a lot of mechanical work being done with him, so this is just like raw talent, him throwing that hard. We think he can get even better.”

The Orioles signed Sanchez in January 2019 as one of seven prospects coming out of the Dominican Republic. He received a $200,000 bonus.

“You think about a guy with that type of velocity as a 17-year-old high school kid, he would probably be pretty interesting on people’s draft boards,” Perez said.

The TrackMan results further motivated the Orioles to sign Sanchez. His fastball has a high spin rate, along with the riding life up in the zone that is so important today.

“We were very excited to get him as late as we did,” Perez said, “and we think the future is real bright for him.” 

The Orioles will make another attempt to assign him to the DSL in 2021.

In the meantime, an impressive collection of international players were able to work out in Sarasota, Fla., and push their development.

“Right now they’re 17 and 18, and there are 24-year-olds there, so they’re five, six years younger than the majority of camp,” Perez said. “But we thought it would be a really good environment for them to learn how to be professionals.”

BIRD SEED

— Outfielder Heston Kjerstad wasn’t able to report to instructional league because of a “medical non-sports related reason,” per executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. Kjerstad also had been excluded from the 60-man pool over the summer.

— Travel restrictions prevented the Orioles from bringing Venezuelan righthanders Moises Chace and Raul Rangel to the U.S. for the instructional league. Chace received one of the largest bonuses last year at $225,000.