Pirates' Catcher Tony Sanchez Makes Big League Team
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - To hear him say it, the experience in the Dominican Winter League was not a pleasant one for Pirates catcher Tony Sanchez, but the things he learned there have helped him make the big league club out of spring training.
Sanchez joined the Starkey and Mueller show following today's announcement by manager Clint Hurdle and told the guys how that conversation went.
"I was sitting at my locker right now after the game and Skip came up to me and said 'Hey, Tone, good news, you're on the team,'" said Sanchez.
According to Sanchez though, this is just the first goal he hopes to achieve this spring.
"That was the first goal coming into spring training, was to break camp with the team," Sanchez said. "Now there's a couple other things I want to take care of before I can say that I've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish this spring training."
A lot of the reason why Sanchez is in position to make the team out of camp is due to the work he put in during the Dominican Winter League this offseason.
Sanchez talked about his offseason that was cut short in the Dominican League but says his level of play was down there because was working on weaknesses he thought he had that needed to be fixed in order to be ready for the Pirates season.
"I didn't hit at all in the Dominican," Sanchez admitted. "That was my plan. I just decided, I'm not here to be a Dominican League All-Star, I'm here to get work done and polish off my weaknesses. Why not just work on my weaknesses at the plate? I didn't swing at any 0-0 fastballs, I didn't swing at any 2-0 fastballs or any 3-1 fastballs and anyone who knows me knows I make a living off those fastballs. I was really purposefully putting myself in holes. I got sent home two days early. Did I care? No. Because I knew that I was putting myself in a better situation coming into spring training and now I look like a genius."
Click the audio link below to hear more from Sanchez as he talked about the death threats he received in the Winter League, why his throwing issues from last year are long gone and which pitchers on the teams staff have the best stuff.
