This season for Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez has been impeachable, as he leads Major League Baseball in ERA (1.62) and is tied with Miami Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara in complete games and shutouts (one).
Sanchez’s overall numbers are gaudy, 5-2 with a National League-leading 262 ERA+ and home runs per nine (0.4), and leads the major leagues with 72.1 innings. However, May has been the former All-Star’s (2024) best month, as he is on pace to tie or surpass Phillies great right-hander Grover “Pete” Alexander’s scoreless streak of 41.0 innings (set in 1911). Sanchez is 3.2 innings away (37.2 innings).
Sanchez’s production this season is proving that he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball, making him the favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award.
Philadelphia Phillies Cristopher Sanchez is the odds-on favorite to bring home the National League Cy Young Award
Past the first milepost of the season (Memorial Day), the picture for who is leading and contending for MLB’s most prestigious awards (MVP and Cy Young) is coming into focus. In the latest poll released by MLB.com’s Jared Greenspan, Sanchez leapfrogged Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes for first, receiving 17 first-place votes to his nine.
Sanchez’s scoreless streak, ERA, and ability to master two pitches (a sinker and a changeup) with a viable third pitch (a slider) to keep hitters honest are what give Sanchez the best chances to win his first Cy Young Award.
“After finishing a distant second to Skenes in the 2025 NL Cy Young Award voting, Sánchez is emerging as the early frontrunner to take home the hardware this year,” wrote Greenspan. “The lanky left-hander carries a37 2/3 scoreless innings streak into Wednesday’s start against the Padres, when he’ll have a chance to surpass Grover Alexander’s 41-inning mark that stands as the longest stretch by a Phillies pitcher since the mound moved to its current distance in 1893. Using a remarkably simple three-pitch arsenal, Sánchez owns the lowest ERA (1.62) in the National League. He’s also thrown the most innings (72 1/3) and accumulated the most WAR (2.8) of any pitcher in baseball.”
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Sanchez’s development into one of the best pitchers in baseball is remarkable, as he was a former castoff of the Tampa Bay Rays organization. Signing a minor league contract in 2013, Sanchez would work his way through the Rays’ minor league system until he was traded to the Phillies in 2019 for infielder Curtis Mead.
Mead, a former top prospect, never panned out and is currently playing with the Washington Nationals, where Sanchez has a claim to being the best left-handed pitcher of the best pitcher in Major League Baseball.