Aníbal Sánchez
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Aníbal Alejandro Sánchez (born February 27, 1984 in Maracay, Venezuela) is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who plays for the Florida Marlins. Listed at 6-0, 180 pounds, he bats and throws right handed.
Sánchez possesses a fastball clocked as high as the mid-90's, an above-average curve, and a good changeup. He was signed by the Boston Red Sox as a non-drafted free agent in 2001. After playing in the Venezuelan Summer League for two seasons, Anibal suffered an elbow injury that required nerve transposition surgery, causing him to miss the entire 2003 season. The following year he returned to the mound, this time making his debut on American soil with the short-season Single-A Lowell Spinners. In 15 starts, Anibal posted a 3-4 record with a 1.77 ERA, and by the end of the year was widely considered one of Boston's top pitching prospects.
2005 saw the young prospect starting the season off in Wilmington, Boston's High-A ball affiliate. After posting a 6-1 record with a 2.40 ERA, receiving a selection for the All-Star Futures Game, and making the Carolina League All-Star team, he was promoted to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. Anibal got off to a hot start there, but tired toward the end of the season, creating some concern about his durability. Still, Sánchez put up a 3.45 ERA over 11 starts in his Double-A debut, fine numbers for a 21 year old. At the end of the season, Boston traded Sánchez along Hanley Ramirez, Jesús Delgado, and Harvey García to the Florida Marlins, in the same transaction that brought Josh Beckett, Guillermo Mota, and Mike Lowell to the Red Sox.
In 2006 Sánchez posted a 3-6 record with a 3.15 ERA for Double-A Carolina Mudcats. On June 25, he was called up to the majors to start the second half of a doubleheader in Yankee Stadium against the Yankees. Anibal's major league debut was a strong one, as he allowed seven hits and no runs in 5 2/3 innings against the Yankees. He then turned the game over to his bullpen, which blanked the Yankees the rest of the way, shutting out the Yankees for the first time all year, 5–0. Sánchez became just the second visiting starter in the past decade to win his big-league debut at Yankee Stadium (Fellow Venezuelan Gustavo Chacín of Toronto, who beat the Yankees in September 2004, is the other). On July 14, the 22 year old Sánchez started against and defeated Astros pitcher Roger Clemens, who made his MLB debut when Sánchez was just three months old.
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