PHILADELPHIA — Cristopher Sánchez brought a black glove with him this week to the arctic Delaware Valley because the 28-year-old has a routine and if an All-Star season taught him anything, the routine is sacrosanct. He paused this winter only to get married at home in the Dominican Republic. Wait … did he throw outside in sub-freezing temperatures during his trip to Philadelphia for various charity and promotional events?
“No, no,” Sánchez said. “In the cage.”
The lanky lefty laughed. Life is good. He entered 2024 as the Phillies’ fifth starter while having an ambitious and improbable goal of becoming an All-Star. He did it — while securing a guaranteed $22.5 million contract. He is established now. Along the way last season, Sánchez began to look at pitching with a different perspective. Caleb Cotham, the Phillies pitching coach, said Sánchez asked higher-level questions about his arsenal and game planning.
He wasn’t treading water anymore.
“It changes things,” Sánchez said Tuesday through a team interpreter. “Before, I was more worried about trying to get the opportunity. Now my main focus is, ‘How am I going to attack the hitters? How am I going to go out there and perform?’”
The Phillies are an older team, and one of the bigger bets they are making in 2025 is that veteran players can apply adjustments. It is a risk. Then, there is someone like Sánchez, who they believe can tap into more. Same for Orion Kerkering, who turns 24 in April and now understands the rigors of a full big-league season.
The roster is littered with players more important than those two. But the No. 3 starter and possible closer are prominent figures with upside potential.
“It’ll be super fun,” Kerkering said. “A fun task to handle that.”
He pitched more often in the seventh and sixth innings than he did in the eighth inning last season. That stands to change in 2025.
Kerkering’s 2.29 ERA ranked 16th among 87 MLB relievers with 60 innings last season. (It was third on the Phillies, behind Matt Strahm and Jeff Hoffman.) He did it mostly as a two-pitch reliever; the sinker he used 15 percent of the time was, he admitted, “an experiment.” The Phillies talked about Kerkering adding a sinker last season, but the rookie wasn’t totally convinced. He was going to lean on what carried him to the majors.
Now, Kerkering expects a more even split between his four-seam and two-seam fastballs in 2025.
“Play it off between lefties and righties a little bit more,” Kerkering said. “Be able to locate to the right and left side of the plate a little bit better with it. Just keep growing off of it.”
Kerkering recalled two sinkers he liked — both against the New York Mets early last season. One was a back-door, 2-2 pitch that surprised Starling Marte right after a slider for a ball down and away.
The other, a 2-2 sinker inside to Pete Alonso, came after three straight sliders.
“It just opens up the window; it’ll help my slider a bit more,” Kerkering said. “Because if I’m able to locate a two-seam in, then it gives me the whole window on the outside half. I saw towards the end (of the season), some outings where I’ve gone back (and watched), I can do that more consistently. … Just trust it a little bit more.”
Kerkering, like Sánchez, can sweat some of the smaller details now. Sánchez posted a 3.32 ERA in 181 2/3 innings last season. He was a revelation. This is the list of Phillies lefties who have achieved those marks in a season over the past 30 years: Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Randy Wolf.
Sánchez wasn’t as sharp in July and August, then finished strong in September and authored a suitable start in Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Mets. He has a 281-inning sample over the past two seasons that suggests he is a legitimate, mid-rotation lefty.
“You have to keep adjusting,” Sánchez said. “I am working on a few new things. I won’t say what those are, but I’m working.”
It makes sense; Sánchez was a three-pitch starter for much of last season. He toyed with a cutter last spring; the Phillies could revisit that. They like all of their starters to have two different fastballs. Sánchez’s sinker works well with his signature changeup. A cutter could open more lanes against right-handed hitters.
If he does what he did last season again in 2025, the Phillies will be thrilled. But, maybe, there is still room to grow.
“It was a tough time after the season,” Sánchez said. “But, just got some rest, went home, and then got right back to work.”
Life on the fringes
Kody Clemens hit .219/.258/.447 in 114 at-bats last season with the Phillies. (Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
Kody Clemens is an awkward spot; the Phillies have always labeled him a big-league-caliber player, but that has not precluded them from stashing him in the minors when possible. They brought him to town this week for community events. But, barring an injury, there is no spot for him on the Opening Day roster.
The Phillies are heavy on lefty hitters. Clemens hits left-handed and now cannot be sent to the minors without clearing waivers.
“I go into every spring training thinking the same thing,” Clemens said. “Just keep my head down and work hard and get prepared for the season, whatever that entails. Right? I’m just going to go down to spring and do what I always do and just try to stay level-headed and try to make the team, however that looks. We’ll see what happens.”
Clemens was an ideal 26th man when he had minor-league options. The situation doesn’t diminish the importance of this spring for him; Clemens is essentially playing for 29 other teams. Someone needing a solid lefty bat off the bench could swing a trade with the Phillies in March. The Phillies could use Clemens to help them obtain Triple-A outfield depth or a useful middle reliever.
This and that
• In addition to Clemens, the other 40-man roster players on the bubble without minor-league options are catcher Rafael Marchán, infielder Buddy Kennedy and right-hander Tyler Phillips. The Phillies spent the offseason replacing most of the out-of-options players on the roster’s edges.
• The Phillies applied a different strategy to their international amateur signings in 2025. They did not sign a player to a seven-figure bonus for the first time in years. They agreed to terms with 32 players with teenage Venezuelan shortstop Nieves Izaguirre among the higher-ranked ones, according to Baseball America.
The @Phillies have agreed to terms with 32 international free agents. pic.twitter.com/VFH4Wf9ARq
— Phillies Player Development (@PhilsPlayerDev) January 20, 2025
They, instead, took money from their international bonus pool and bought a prospect from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phillies sent more than $1 million in pool money to the Dodgers for outfielder Dylan Campbell, a 22-year-old former fourth-round pick. Los Angeles used the money toward Roki Sasaki’s signing bonus.
Campbell hit .251/.331/.372 at High A in 2024. He had 21 doubles, 10 homers and 42 stolen bases. He figures to begin 2025 at Double-A Reading and projects as a corner outfielder.
• Not long after Sasaki announced he was signing with the Dodgers, the Phillies said they signed Japanese pitcher Koyo Aoyagi to a minor-league contract. Aoyagi, 31, will come to big-league spring training. He is a sidearmer who had a 3.69 ERA in 61 innings for the Hanshin Tigers last season.
Aoyagi should begin the season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The Phillies have expanded their presence in Japan over the last few years, but it has not helped them make inroads with the best players coming from that country. They have to start somewhere, so Aoyagi is that guy.
It’s the first time they have signed a professional player directly from Japan since 1998. That year, they added a righty reliever named Tomoyuki Uchiyama, who lasted one season at Double-A Reading. He quit baseball after that.
(Top photo of Cristopher Sánchez: John Cordes / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
