A's Sign Former Miami Marlins Prospect

In recent weeks, the A's have made a number of minor additions to their roster, and for some reason many of them revolve around the Miami Marlins. Last week they brought in catcher Jhonny Pereda and hard-throwing right-hander Elvis Alvarado, and to make room on the roster, they designated Anthony Maldonado for assignment. All three players were in the Marlins' system in 2024.

Turns out, they weren't the only former Marlins to make it into the A's system. According to his player page, right-hander Edgar Sanchez has signed with the Sacramento-bound A's and been assigned to High-A Lansing. Sanchez had been in the Marlins system since 2017.

Perhaps this fascination with Marlins prospects stems from the breakout season that JJ Bleday had in 2024.

As for Sanchez, 24, he is 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, and is an interesting addition for precisely one reason, which is that last year he fully transitioned into a relief pitcher and finished the season with a 1.90 ERA (3.67 FIP).

Part of that production looks to have been batted ball luck, with the righting holding a .188 BABIP. That number is usually about 100 points higher. He also gave up just one home run in 52 innings, which is tremendous. It's just a matter of how repeatable that is moving forward that is a bit concerning.

One bright side here is that he struck out 20.8% of the batters he faced last season, while also walking 12.3%. For him to be effective moving forward, he's either going to have to up the strikeout rate, or lower the walk rate. He also kept the ball on the ground more often than not, holding a 52.6% ground ball rate.

This addition isn't going to jump out at you immediately, and the best case scenario here is that he can repeat his numbers from a year ago, while showing that they may be sustainable. From there, he could start moving up the organizational ladder and proving himself again and again until he's in the big leagues.

At worst, Sanchez was a flier that the A's front office saw something in. He'll be someone to keep an eye on after the year he had last year, but the peripheral stats will need to improve a touch before we really start paying attention.