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July 29, 2012 - International League (IL1)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


INDIANAPOLIS -- With two outs in the fifth inning and the Indians leading the Columbus Clippers 3-2 on July 15, starting pitcher Rick VandenHurk needed an out. Unfortunately, the bases were loaded for Clippers slugger Matt LaPorta.

Fortunately for VandenHurk and the Indians, catcher Tony Sanchez was ready for the situation.

The day before, the Clippers had tagged the Indians for nine runs, partially because of poor pitch calling. This time, Sanchez was prepared. In past years, Sanchez had wanted to pitch away from contact, but he had learned to pitch instead to contact in order to force a groundball.

They came right after LaPorta with fastball after fastball, and he grounded out to third base to end the inning. Catching instructor Wyatt Toregas, who has been working constantly with Sanchez on his defense since Sanchez was called up in June, was impressed.

"The sequence to LaPorta was perfect," Toregas said. "It was absolutely perfect and we got out of the inning easily. He did a really good job with that. He's a smart kid and he's able to take information that you give him and use it out on the field."

The Pirates counted on Sanchez being a quick learner when they drafted him fourth overall in the 2009 June Amateur Draft, just three spots after Washington selected phenom Stephen Strasburg.

He immediately made an impact, batting higher than .300 in both 2009 and 2010, despite an injury-plagued 2010 season. His success resulted in Baseball America ranking him as one of the 50 best prospects in baseball prior to his 2011 campaign with Double-A Altoona.

However, 2011 was not the year Sanchez wanted it to be. His average fell to .241, and during the offseason, he learned that he would not be advancing to Triple-A to start 2012.

Beginning the season again in Double-A Altoona, Sanchez told himself that he would play well enough that the Pirates would have no choice but to promote him. He ate better during the offseason and prepared his body for a grueling season.

He lifted his batting average nearly 40 points and in his second season of calling pitches in Double-A, he used his knowledge of opponents to help his pitching staff dominate.

As planned, his performance pushed his promotion to Indianapolis in early June, and he has now begun to break through in July. During the month, he has hit all six of his home runs, collected 13 of his 15 RBI and posted the International League's second-best slugging percentage (.733) through the first 18 days of the month.

He works tirelessly with hitting coach Jeff Branson to correctly utilize his good hands and instincts at the plate. His most recent home run, which came in Saturday's 6-0 win over Buffalo, was an opposite field bomb that had fans running in the direction of the scoreboard beyond right field.

"You very rarely see many guys be able to drive the ball over the fence, especially the deep right-center gap," Branson said. "Again, that just goes to show you how strong he is, how good his barrel is and how good his hands can be, as long as he trusts them."

Sanchez has caught more than 250 games in his four-year minor league career, and starting pitcher Jeff Locke said Sanchez's memory of those games is phenomenal.

"He remembers every pitch you threw, he remembers every swing a guy puts on the ball," Locke said. "He's just a sponge back there full of information and he's worked well so far with the staff."

Toregas said dealing with pitching staffs in Triple-A is much more of a challenge than it was in Altoona.

"In Double-A, they still rely a lot on their physical tools and a lot less strategy and trying to use situations to their benefit, whereas here there's a lot more situational awareness," Toregas said. "Guys don't worry about throwing as hard as much here as they do trying to locate. In Double-A, they just throw, whereas here, they pitch, so it's definitely a different animal."

It's a daunting task for a young player such as Sanchez, as Toregas pointed out that in Triple-A, there are more free agents and veteran Major Leaguers to worry about facing. In the lower levels, Toregas said the rosters are mostly players drafted by the Pirates, but at Triple-A, many of the pitchers have been elsewhere and Sanchez must familiarize himself with a wider array of pitchers.

The added challenge for him, like it is for all catchers, is to balance managing pitchers and managing himself at the plate.

"My priority number one is calling pitches, getting those guys on the bump though as many innings as possible, blocking pitches in the dirt, making sure I'm controlling the running game and doing everything I can behind the plate," Sanchez said. "And then there's hitting."

Branson said it can be difficult when a catcher wants to talk to a pitcher between innings about opposing batters when it's his own turn to bat. He and the coaches have told Sanchez that once he's on the field, he can't be thinking about his opponent's at-bats while he is batting and vise-versa.

At 24, Sanchez is still young and still learning to balance both sides of the plate. He has confidence that there will be a spot in Pittsburgh for him when he is ready, and Locke concurred.

"There's only one catching spot on a big league team as a starter, and you've got to be the best one," Locke said. "It's a tough job, but I think Tony definitely has what it takes to fill those shoes."

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