Saw this little tidbit over Chad Jennings’s blog on pitcher Humberto Sanchez who continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery. He asked minor league pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras about his progress -
Throwing bullpen sessions, but Contreras said he’s not at 45 pitches yet. Forty five is an important number because if the Yankees are going to use Sanchez as a starter, they want him throwing at least 45 pitches before they let him pitch to hitters. If he’s a reliever, he can start at 35 pitches. It has been my understanding that Sanchez will work as a reliever, at least that’s what I was told this spring, but Contreras made it sound as though that’s not set in stone. He obviously didn’t go into specifics — to be expected because the Yankees rarely go into specifics with this kind of thing — but it sounds like Sanchez could be — could be — fairly close to pitching in games.
I would like to see the Yankees develop him as a starter because of the depth the system has in relievers. Not sure if they’ll do this, but it seems like the organization is still taking a wait and see approach on the power righty who came over from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield deal.
There are also updates on Erik Hacker, Jeff Karstens, Zach McAllister, Chris Garcia, Mark Melancon, Chase Wright, Daniel McCutchen and Sean Henn.
