Sánchez strong in rehab start, but Nats waiting on rotation plans

ATLANTA – The Nationals received an encouraging report on Aníbal Sánchez’s latest rehab start with Triple-A Rochester.

And with Monday’s off-day and the four-day All-Star break the following week, the Nats’ rotation could be in line to get some rest, a boost and a reset.

Sánchez completed 5 1/3 innings with four hits, two runs (one earned), three walks and three strikeouts in his fourth rehab start last night (third with Rochester). He threw 87 pitches, 54 for strikes, against the 23 batters he faced, a little more than the five innings and 75 pitches he was originally scheduled to throw.

“Yeah, he threw 5 1/3, 87 pitches. He threw the ball well,” Davey Martinez said during his pregame meeting with the media. “He had a couple of walks in there, but he felt good. So today he'll rest, he'll throw a bullpen, we'll see where he's at. And then we'll figure out what's next for him.”

Looking at the schedule, five days from yesterday would be Wednesday’s matinee finale against the Mariners. As the rotation currently stands, Josiah Gray would be in line to start Tuesday’s opener after Monday’s off-day, and Joan Adon’s spot would come up Wednesday.

But Adon’s next start is far from a certainty. After being recalled to make a spot start in Philadelphia two days ago, Adon only completed four innings on 96 pitches and allowed six hits and four runs in a loss. He now sports a 1-12 record (the most losses in the majors) and a 7.10 ERA.

One would think if a better option presents itself, the Nationals would prefer to go with that and allow Adon to continue to develop in Rochester. Plus with the off-day and upcoming break, they could insert some fresher arms and allow their regulars to rest more. Not to mention Josh Rogers is being stretched out during his rehab assignment while recovering from a left shoulder impingement.

“I'll sit down with (pitching coach Jim) Hickey,” Martinez said of mapping out a rotation plan. “You know, the biggest thing is trying to get through these next couple of days and get to that day off. And then we can reset. We'll reset everything after that.”

Sánchez is 38 years old and a 15-year major league veteran, so he understands how this process works. But he hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2020. He knows the Nationals want to make sure he’s fully recovered from his cervical nerve impingement and that his arm is fully ramped up before they bring him back up to the big leagues.

“Aníbal is a very positive guy, so he understands,” Martinez said. “He's been doing this for a long time. Obviously when you get hurt and you're out for such a period of time, you do get a little frustrated. But he's been good through the whole process. He really has. He's been sticking with it, he's been strengthening. He's done a lot of things to keep himself going so that when he did have this rehab, as you can see, he's been doing pretty good. I mean, he's already up to 87 pitches. So now it's just a matter of repeating it every five days, and that's where we're at right now. But he said he felt great. He had no issues. Like I said, we'll see how he feels, he'll throw another bullpen and we'll see how he feels then.”

As always, Martinez is taking this one day at a time, focusing on Patrick Corbin’s start today and Paolo Espino’s start tomorrow before making long-term plans for next week.

“Hopefully today, we get some length out of Corbin,” Martinez said. “He keeps us in the ballgame and then we can regroup.”