Working Out the Rust

The AFL was Tony Sanchez's WD40.

Jen Langosch has an article that takes a look back at Tony Sanchez's Arizona Fall League. The young catcher struggled at the plate and by some accounts even behind the plate. His performance, numbers wise, is a little disconcerting as he has put up great numbers as soon as he signed with the Pirates. It seems a little out of character for him.

Kyle Stark is not all that worried. Stark tells Langosch:

"I think it was more he was just rusty getting back out there," Stark said. "Actually, he stung some balls and didn't have the results and tried to do a little bit more. We were pleased with how he went about things. The results just weren't there."

So it seems then that the brass is not all that worried. They liked what they saw from him, he was just a little rusty that is all. It might become a little more worrisome if Sanchez has results like this when he starts the year in Altoona. It iwll be interesting to see how he handles that jump, as the level of competition and the level of pitching improves greatly. We will quickly know how he can handle it all.

One additional interesting note from Stark in regards to Josh Harrison, who had a good fall:

"He's a guy that's going to continue to challenge people to think that he's better than what they think,"

I find that pretty interesting for Stark to say that he is better than people think. I have thought of Harrision in the past as a diamond in the rough, but he could also just as easily turn into Jim Negrych. Time will tell, but it clearly looks like Stark is tabbing Harrison as a sleeper.