The Phillies and left-handed pitcher Cristopher Sánchez have agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension that begins in 2025 and will run through 2028 with club options for 2029 and 2030.
Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski made the announcement.
Sánchez, 27, has made 14 starts this season and has posted a 2.91 ERA (25 ER, 77.1 IP) with 66 strikeouts to 24 walks. His ERA ranks seventh in the National League this year and his 0.12 home runs per 9.0 innings pitched is the best in all of baseball. Sánchez has also accumulated 2.4 fWAR, which is tied for the eighth-most among all major league pitchers and tied for fourth among NL pitchers, behind only Ranger Suárez, Tyler Glasnow and Chris Sale.
Per Statcast, Sánchez has seen an uptick of 2.2 miles per hour on his fastball this year, which is the second-biggest increase in the major leagues and the largest by a left-handed pitcher. He has also collected a ground ball percentage of 59.4 percent, which is second in baseball and with his changeup, Sánchez has limited batters to a .189 batting average (21-111) with a 38.5 strikeout percentage and a 41.5 percent whiff rate, which rank seventh, first and second, respectively, in the NL (min. 50 plate appearances).
The 6-foot-6 left-hander is in his fourth major league season and made the transition into a full-time starter over the last two years, appearing in 33 games, 32 of which were starts, since the beginning of 2023. Last year, he set career highs in appearances (19), starts (18), inning pitched (99.1) and strikeouts (96) while also posting a four percent walk rate. Sánchez also made his postseason debut last year when he started Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. In his four years as a Phillie, he has gone 10-10 with a 3.73 ERA (95 ER, 229.1 IP) in 55 games (36 starts).
Originally signed by the Tampa Bay Rays as an amateur free on July 15, 2013, the La Romana, D.R., native was acquired in a trade by the Phillies on Nov. 20, 2019, in exchange for infielder Curtis Mead.
