Blue Jays Injury News: Aaron Sanchez on the mend

Even while many of us were anxiously watching the MLB debut of Toronto Blue Jays prospect Matt Boyd, we understand that it was simultaneously made possible by both Boyd’s performance in the minor leagues and by a created opening. An opening created by an injury to Aaron Sanchez.

Now Sanchez appears to be on the comeback trail.

Sanchez has been rehabbing from a strained lat muscle at the team’s spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida since being placed on the disabled list on retroactive to June 6th. Per Blue Jays manager John Gibbons (h/t Dhiren Mahiban, MLB.com),the right-hander will throw off a mound on both Wednesday and Saturday before having a rehab assignment determined. If all goes well, he will make a few minor league starts before rejoining the team after the All-Star game on July 14th.

Aaron Sanchez made his last appearance for the Blue Jays on June 5th, throwing his best game of the season while holding the Boston Red Sox to just one earned run over eight innings of work. It was the fourth straight quality start for the rookie, who had allowed just eight earned runs and striking out 17 over his last four starts (28 innings). Unfortunately, the recovery from that last start didn’t go so smoothly and the Blue Jays were forced to shut down their prized prospect.

In two seasons for the Blue Jays, Sanchez has appeared in 35 games and made 11 starts. Between the bullpen and the rotation, Sanchez has a 7-6 record, 3 saves, a 2.73 ERA, a 6.3 K/9 ratio, and 60.4% ground ball rate. There is still some debate over his long-term prognosis about whether he’ll pitch out of the rotation or the bullpen, but Sanchez’s recent performances were starting to put that argument to bed before the injury sprang up.

That injury led to three starts for Scott Copeland, who produced mixed results, and then Saturday’s start for Matt Boyd. With three more turns in the rotation (at a minimum) between now and Sanchez’s expected return, Boyd will likely get a few more starts to prove he’s ready for consistent big league action. Daniel Norris could also see another shot but has thus far struggled to find consistency in Triple-A Buffalo.

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