Hansen vs Sixto: Big Heat vs Even Bigger Heat

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On April 13th, I went to my 1st minor league game of the year. It was the home opener for the Lakewood and Sixto Sanchez’, arguably the Phillies top pitching prospect, depending on who you talk to, was on the bump. While he got zilch in run support that night in a loss, it was a strong 5 innings (1 ER, 5/0 K/BB, 68 pitches (50 strikes)). That night I was on the left side of the infield gathering video on his open side and left my pitch charts at home, which would have been useless to me from that angle. I left that game thinking his fastball is too damn good and not much else knowing I needed a second look. I got that 2nd look on Sunday in what was a flat out duel between 2 promising young pitchers.

With a body that was exhausted and sore from of weekend of nothing but playing football and drinking on the Ben Franklin Parkway for Philadelphia’s football future, I kicked my keister over to Lakewood  to finish off this long weekend to take a look at Sixto and Kannapolis RHP Alec Hansen, the White Sox’ 2016 2nd rd pick. And I got quite the treat. So let’s dig deep into what these 2 “giants” did on Sunday.

So let’s start with Hansen. He’s a BIG dude (6’7″, 235 lb) and makes Sixto feel even shorter than he is (6’0″, 185). It was pretty funny to see the flip when the half innings were over. Hansen was on point from the 1st pitch vs a left handed heavy lineup. After his 1B couldn’t handle a throw from SS, as he would retire 15 of 16 and carry a no-hitter through 5. During the 16 batter stretch, he was able to get 10 of his 11 swing and miss strikes (6 fastballs, 3 sliders, 1 changeup). Eventually things didn’t go his way as his 2B committed an error to lead off the 6th. Eventually Henri Lartigue got the 1st hit for Lakewood putting runners on 1B and 3B on the hit and run. Mickey Moniak would swing on a 2nd pitch fastball to drive to center for a sac fly. Hansen finished the inning. His final line: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 3/1 K/BB, 89 pitches (59 strikes). His command was spotty even though he was getting out of it. He missed what I would consider to be high 11 times (only one strike); 13 of 22 ABs went 4+ pitches; and he threw only 50% 1st pitch strikes (16/22 were fastballs). His biggest issue might be keeping base runners where they are. Even though there were few opportunities, anytime Lakewood got a base runner, the hit and run or steal sign was on. And as Dan Hayes points out, it might be easily his biggest weakness right now.

Alec was once considered an early contender for the #1 pick last year before a poor junior season at Oklahoma. He’s got the pure stuff to be a front line starter with a fastball ranging from 91-97 mph, a good changeup and an average looking slider and curve with potential flashes of being plus at times. I think he flies to far to his right, and his arm angle loses positioning at times, causing him to miss the zone too much. I think when your 6’7″, a lot needs to be in sync to reach that type of ceiling. It doesn’t happen all the time, which is why I think at best he’s a #3 or 4 starter.

Now to the guy Phillies fans want to talk about. Sixto Sanchez may be small, but he is fearless. The moment he throws the 1st pitch, he’s quickly ready to attack on the next pitch. Seriously, I wanted to post more tape on Twitter for you guys, but every time I looked up after quickly writing on my pitch chart, he was already half way through his windup. Much like Hansen, there was not much hard contact throughout his outing (the only ball I considered hit hard was a lineout to Brito). I was very impressed by Sixto’s changeup in this game, which I didn’t see enough before, or just didn’t recognize enough. Of his 6 swinging strikes, 4 were on his change. It’s got plenty of sink and fade to it where it has great potential to be a great weapon to both left and right handed hitters. He didn’t flash his breaking ball enough, but let’s face it, when you’ve got real heat, you use it.

Sixto mainly sat 92-97 mph, and the ball just explodes and sinks on hitters thanks to the armside run he creates. There’s some effort in his delivery, but a lot of it is easy and repeatable even at his quick tempo. The thing I like about Sixto the most: he pounds the strike zone, and pounds it A LOT, and kept the ball low. When he missed he wasn’t missing by much. In fact he threw 16 of 18 1st pitch strikes, 12 of on his fastball, which I think we can all agree nobody at low A can hit very far. This also leads to quick outs as only 6 of the 18 batters he faced were able to get him to throw 4+ pitches. Because of this he had only thrown 58 pitches, 42 for strikes in 5 shutout innings (2 H, 4/0 K/BB).

Sixto has a pretty interesting ceiling. I think he’s got a good chance to be a #2 starter because of his fastball and changeup alone. If he can mix in his breaking ball a bit more, which does have the chance to be just above average, he’s got a chance to be an ace. The concern of course is that he is a little guy, so durability and getting innings from him could be a concern. Of course, the Phillies are managing him along quite, not trying to stress his workload early in the season. He is part of a 6 man rotation in Lakewood and, based on his 1st 4 starts, they are limiting him to 5 innings per outing. The Phillies will try to hold him back in Lakewood as long as possible, but it’s going to be tough when your on quite a run

And to think it only cost them $35,000 and a position switch from SS to find a potential gem.

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