Aníbal Sánchez | |||
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Sánchez with the Tigers in 2012
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Detroit Tigers – No. 19 | |||
Starting Pitcher | |||
Born: Maracay, Venezuela |
February 27, 1984 |||
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MLB debut | |||
June 25, 2006, for the Florida Marlins | |||
MLB statistics (through 2016 season) |
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Win–loss record | 87–87 | ||
Earned run average | 3.93 | ||
Strikeouts | 1,310 | ||
Teams | |||
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Career highlights and awards | |||
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Aníbal Alejandro Sánchez, Jr. (Spanish: [aˈniβal ˈsantʃes]; born February 27, 1984) is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Sánchez is listed as 6 feet tall and 180 pounds. Sánchez has previously pitched for the Miami Marlins. On September 6, 2006, in his 13th career Major League start, Sánchez pitched a no-hitter against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Sánchez was signed by the Boston Red Sox as an international free agent in 2001. After playing in the Venezuelan Summer League for two seasons, Sánchez suffered an elbow injury that required surgery to move his elbow ligament, causing him to miss the entire 2003 season.
In the following year, he returned to the mound, this time making his debut on American soil with the short-season Single-A Lowell Spinners. In 15 starts, Sánchez posted a 3–4 record with a 1.77 earned run average (ERA), and by the end of the year was widely considered one of Boston's top pitching prospects. After the 2004 season, Baseball America named Sánchez Boston's fifth-best prospect, behind shortstop Hanley Ramírez, outfielder Brandon Moss, and pitchers Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester. By 2006, Ramírez, Papelbon, and Lester had all played in the majors; Moss was selected as the Portland Sea Dogs most valuable player in 2006.