It’d be hyperbolic to call Jesús Sánchez a Miami Marlins legend, but he is a survivor. Even if this proves to be his final season with the Fish, Sánchez already finds himself in rarefied air.
Admittedly, Sánchez has not been particularly valuable as an overall player. As of this writing, he ranks 36th among Marlins position players in career fWAR, three-tenths of a win behind a single season of Iván Rodríguez and three-tenths of a win ahead of Dontrelle Willis (yes, D-Train the hitter/baserunner, excluding all of his pitching contributions). I’m just here to draw attention to what he has accomplished as a compiler.
The Dominican outfielder has 482 games played as a Marlin. He just passed Justin Bour for 27th place all-time. Health permitting, he will move up three more spots by the All-Star break.
Sánchez is tied for 18th on the franchise’s career home runs list with 63. He really stands out in that category if we filter by handedness. The only left-handed batters who went yard more times as Marlins were Cliff Floyd (110), Bour (83), Mike Jacobs (69) and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (66).
Throughout much of its history, loanDepot park has been a pitcher-friendly environment. Nonetheless, Sánchez performs much better in Miami than he does on the road. Minimum 500 plate appearances at LDP, his .800 OPS trails only Giancarlo Stanton (.994), Marcell Ozuna (.847) and Bour (.844).
Now for the very silly stuff.
Statcast defines a “barrel” as a batted-ball event whose comparable hit types (in terms of exit velocity and launch angle) have led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage. You usually know it when you see it and when you hear it.
Predictably, Stanton has the most barrels of any Marlin ever with 164. Sánchez ranks second with 126. League-wide Statcast tracking dates back to 2015. We can make educated guesses about a dozen former Fish who had more barrel-caliber moments, but only Stanton’s total is confirmed to be higher.
Same deal regarding longest Marlins home runs ever recorded. Stanton tops the Statcast-era list with a 504-footer hit at Coors Field on August 8, 2016. Sánchez has come closest with a 496-footer on May 30, 2022 (also at Coors).
Sánchez has played for the Marlins in regular season games while wearing four different uniform numbers: No. 76, No. 7, No. 12 and No. 42 (on Jackie Robinson Day). That variety of uniform numbers ties a franchise record.
The Marlins have club control over Jesús Sánchez through the 2027 season, though it’s difficult to imagine him being retained for that long. He is already their highest-paid active position player with a $4.5 million salary, and that will continue to rise the next two years via arbitration.
Sánchez’s overall offensive numbers in 2025 are similar to his career norms, but he has become more well-rounded. His .344 on-base percentage represents a career-high, and after historically having extreme platoon splits, he’s putting up a better fight against lefty pitchers. A trade could potentially be coming this summer to maximize the prospect return and open up steady playing time for the likes of fellow outfielders Dane Myers, Victor Mesa Jr. and Andrew Pintar.
At just 27 years old, despite occasional injuries, inconsistencies and fundamental lapses, Sánchez has loudly left his mark.