Jul 20, 2017
Sanchez’s blisters cause for long-term concern
Latest flare-up raises questions about where the organization goes from here with its young starter if they can’t find a solution.
Aaron Sanchez’s blister issues aren’t going away, and it’s starting to present a whole new long-term problem for the Toronto Blue Jays as a franchise.
Not only does Sanchez’s latest flare-up Wednesday night in Boston throw the 25-year-old right-hander’s 2017 availability into flux, it also raises questions about where the organization goes from here with its young starter if they can’t find a solution.
Depending on how the latest Blistergate goes over the next few days, a fourth disabled list stint isn’t out of the question. But Sanchez’s issues go far beyond this season, as throughout the process he’s admitted he and the team have been managing blisters on his right hand for a couple of years now.
The friction that comes with snapping off a major-league calibre breaking pitch has caused hurlers problems for years.
Nolan Ryan essentially filed off his fingerprints before every start.
Al Leiter tried the pickle juice method as well as dipping his hand into a bag of dry rice to lessen the moisture.
Josh Beckett and, more recently, Rich Hill have also had seasons interrupted regularly by blisters.
Many more one-off examples are out there.
Numerous blister cases this season have pitchers wondering what’s up with the baseballs they’re throwing, including Marcus Stroman’s recent assertion that the balls are the root of the problems.
Urine and something called “Stan’s Rodeo Ointment,” a cocktail created by one-time Los Angeles Dodgers trainer Stan Johnston that Beckett claims got him through the 2003 season, are two of the more creative remedies.
Sanchez has left no stone unturned as he’s worked through his blister problems, but even the more advanced methods the Blue Jays have stumbled upon during their research process haven’t done the trick.
Let’s take a look at what we know about the Sanchez blister timeline:
- Sanchez experienced blister problems in September 2016, needing to have a late-season start pushed back because of it. At the same time, Sanchez revealed he had been managing the blister issues since spring training.
- Another blister recurrence happened in Sanchez’s final spring start this year on March 28, forcing the Blue Jays to give him some extra rest and he didn’t make his first start until April 8.
- After throwing 5.1 innings against the Baltimore Orioles on April 14, Sanchez landed on the DL for the first time this season. He said he was worried the blister was causing him to alter his mechanics, at the same time saying the blisters had been “on and off” for two years.
- A couple of days later on April 17, Sanchez underwent a procedure to remove a portion of the nail on his troublesome middle finger.
- Sanchez returned April 30 against the Tampa Bay Rays, but he lasted just one inning when his surgically modified fingernail cracked and he hit the DL for the second time.
- Once again, Sanchez returned to the mound quickly, but a blood blister formed underneath the nail during a May 19 start and he was sent to the DL for the third time. The idea was to take it slow and make sure the finger was given proper time to heal this time around.
- Sanchez was then shut down for more than six weeks, returning to the rotation July 7 and making it through two starts before another blister cropped up during Wednesday’s start in Boston.
In total, Sanchez has missed 79 days to blisters this season, and that total could be on the rise as the Jays decide how to manage his latest issue.
Where they go from here is anybody’s guess.
The difficult part of the whole situation is that the only way to figure out if Sanchez’s finger has recovered following time off is to send him out to the mound and have him pitch to see if the remedies have worked.
That means actual games where he’s spinning breaking balls with maximum force and the adrenaline is flowing. It has been proven throughout this process that throwing controlled bullpens and rehab games simply aren’t the same.
It’s no secret more pitches means more pressure on the finger and the hotspot areas, which leads many to believe the bullpen could be Sanchez’s eventual home, even if Jays general manager Ross Atkins said earlier this season that sending Sanchez to the 'pen had not once been discussed as an option.
While that may seem like a last resort for a talent who has proven he belongs near the top of a Major League rotation, a fourth DL stint may force the Blue Jays to at least consider it temporarily.
Shutting him down completely in what looks like a lost season could be another option, but that doesn’t allow for a whole lot of confidence heading into spring training next year that the problems won’t persist.
Luck is a big part of baseball, and in the end, that’s what it may come down to for Sanchez and the Blue Jays because modern medicine doesn’t seem to have an easy answer.