2025 Player Review: Cristopher Sanchez

In 2019, the Phillies traded relatively unknown prospect Curtis Mead to the Rays in exchange for relatively unknown prospect Cristopher Sanchez. Wanting to know as much as I could about this kid at the time, I looked up his minor league stats and was thrilled to see he’d spent time with the Bowling Green Hotrods that season — the team where a good friend of mine worked as the radio broadcaster. I immediately texted my friend for the scoop and was told that Sanchez had a lot of potential and would be a fantastic bullpen arm who could manage some spot-starts if needed as long as the Phillies could develop him a little more. I’m proud to say that because of that, I’ve been a huge Sanchez fan from day one. (My friends and family will probably tell you that I’m a bit annoying with the “I was right” comments about him. I accept that… because I was right.)

And I won’t hold my buddy accountable for being wrong about the ceiling for Sanchez’s potential — no one expected him to be as great as he’s become.

Also, shout out to TGP commenter Mace Chutney for finding and sharing this fantastic article absolutely trashing the trade from the Phillies’ perspective. I’m sure Steve Baruti is out there somewhere eating his words. Hindsight is 20/20, eh?

2025 stats:

13-5, 32 games, 202.0 innings, 2.50 ERA, 176 ERA+, 1.06 WHIP, 212 K, 44 BB, 6.4 fWAR

What went right:

Pretty much everything. Excluding a couple shaky starts in the beginning of the season, he was as dominant as anyone could have asked for, especially once the Phillies lost Zack Wheeler to injury and needed Sanchez to step into the leadership role in the rotation.

His success this season was not a surprise. He was named to his first career All Star Game last season and finished tenth in Cy Young voting. Over the winter, he added approximately 20 pounds of muscle and showed up to spring training with an increase in velocity that made his already-sharp off speed pitches even more lethal. The spring training scouting on Sanchez expected another great season from him, and boy did we get one.

His success also earned him approximately $2.7 million from the pre-arbitration bonus pool, the second most of any player.

What went wrong:

There’s an argument to be made that Sanchez should have received at least some of the first place Cy Young votes. His numbers were about equal overall with unanimous winner Paul Skenes, and Sanchez was competing with the pressure of suddenly becoming the ace of a division leader with World Series aspirations, rather than for a bottom feeder team where it didn’t matter how well one individual performed. With both pitchers so close to each other, it is a bit surprising that not a single voter thought Sanchez was the better pitcher in 2025.

It’s also absurd that he wasn’t named an All Star this year — a sentiment his teammates agreed with.

A Phillies starter was snubbed? In other news: Fork Found in Kitchen; Water is Wet.

The future with the Phillies:

2025 was the start of a four-year, $22.5 million contract through 2028, with club options in 2029 ($15M) and 2030 ($16M) for Cristopher Sanchez.

This is phenomenal news for the Phillies, who have a bunch of questions around their rotation. When will Zack Wheeler will return, and what can we expect from him once he does? Will Ranger Suarez sign with the Phillies again or go elsewhere? Is Aaron Nola capable of returning to what he was a few years ago? Was Jesus Luzardo’s positive season a fluke? What version of Taijuan Walker will show up in 2026? Will Andrew Painter ever be MLB-ready?

What Sanchez provides at the top of the rotation going forward is confidence, stability, and the joy of watching one of the top players at his position do what he does best every five days.