Former Nationals Pitcher Attempting Major League Baseball Comeback

The Washington Nationals could use all the pitching help they can get for the rest of the year and going forward.

But it's unlikely they are going to take a chance on a former pitcher of theirs.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, right-hander Aaron Sanchez is looking to make a Major League comeback after last pitching in The Show during the 2022 season.

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One of the teams Sanchez pitched with that year was the Nationals.

Signed to a minor league deal before the season, he was eventually called up in late-April of that year and started seven games, posting an 8.33 ERA with 16 strikeouts and eight walks in 31 1/3 innings of work that caused Washington to designate him for assignment.

When he cleared waivers, he was outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. But he elected to become a free agent instead of accepting the assignment and signed with the Minnesota Twins.

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Sanchez performed better there, posting a 4.71 ERA across eight outings (three starts), but he has failed to pitch in an MLB game since despite being in the Seattle Mariners' and Toronto Blue Jays' organizations.

The news of this comeback attempt is an interesting one.

Sanchez was a first-round pick of the Blue Jays back in 2010, and it looked like he was going to be the next big thing in baseball after he lived up to his top 25 prospect billing with a 2016 season where he went 15-2 with an AL-leading 3.00 ERA that earned him an All-Star selection and seventh-place finish in AL Cy Young voting.

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But injuries derailed his career, with blister and hand issues causing Toronto to move on from him in 2019 ahead of the deadline before a torn capsule in his right shoulder really affected him.

Whether or not the formerly-talented pitcher can make it back to an MLB mound will be interesting to follow.

For more Nationals news, head over to Nationals On SI.