Looking at the fit for Ali Sanchez and Roddery Munoz

Pirates signed Ali Sanchez and claimed Roddery Munoz

The Pittsburgh Pirates had their busiest day on Friday, claiming Roddery Munoz off of waivers from the Nationals and signing catcher Ali Sanchez to a one-year deal.

It’s still early in the offseason, and there will likely be a few more moves that are made, but here are what each can bring to the table and how they may fit.

Ali Sanchez

Last year - Sanchez spent the 2023 season with the Reno Aces, the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. While he’s known for his defense (minor league career 44 CS%), he had a solid offensive campaign with Reno - belting a career-high 11 home runs and posting a .866 OPS.

What he brings - While he is more known for his defense, there was a lot to like about the offensive outburst he put up in 2023 with Reno.

His 95th percentile exit velocity was 106.8 mph, around what Endy Rodriguez put up while in Indianapolis and more than other power hitters in the system like Lonnie White Jr. and Rodolfo Nolasco.

He wasn’t just a power guy; he also had an 88.8% Zone-Contact rate (Z-Contact%) and 6.8% Swinging Strike rate (SwStr%).

Basically, he made a lot of contact, didn’t miss, and hit the ball hard a lot.

Of course, this comes with the caveat that he did it in the Pacific Coast League, perhaps the most hitter-friendly league in all the minors.

How he fits - Depending on what you call Henry Davis, the Pirates could have up to four catchers on their 40-man roster. Sanchez is out of options, so if he doesn’t make the team out of camp, he will go through waivers before being assigned to the minors.

The likely scenario is that he and Jason Delay ‘battle’ for the backup spot behind Rodriguez, and to preserve depth, they send the one with options to the minors to start the year.

Roddery Munoz

Last year - Munoz began the season in the Atlanta Braves system, where he was rated as the eighth-best prospect on FanGraphs. He was later Designated for Assignment and later claimed by the Washington Nationals.

While with the Braves, he pitched out of the bullpen, going 2-2 with a 4.28 ERA (5.59 xFIP) in 27.1 innings pitched with 27 strikeouts and 19 walks.

After getting claimed by the Nationals, Munoz made 12 appearances for Rochester, 10 of which were starts. He posted a 6.98 ERA (5.51 xFIP) in those games, with 41 strikeouts and 27 walks in 38.2 innings pitched.

What he brings - FanGraphs, who had him rated as the eighth-best prospect in the Braves system, gave his slider a ‘70’ grade and his fastball a ‘60’.

Interestingly enough, during his time in Rochester, it was his change up that graded out to be his best pitch according to Prospects Live Stuff+ app on their site, with a Stuff+ of 112.43. The only other pitch that graded out better was his sinker while he was with Gwinnett (they are charted separately between the two teams) at 116.35.

The change up generated a 45% whiff rate in Rochester and 39.1% with Gwinnett.

While he struggled to throw strikes overall, his in zone percentage (IZ%) improved when he joined the Nationals’ organization (45.5% to 53.5%), while averaging about 15” of horizontal run.

How he fits - The Pirates need pitching, plain and simple. Having the change up end up a weapon does make him an intriguing candidate as a starter, but he more thank likely ends up in the bullpen.

According to this article, he can dial it up to triple-digits, making him that much more an interesting piece of the bullpen potentially.

A lot of that will depend on his control, but it’s hard to pass up someone who can hit the upper 90s the way he can and see what you can do with him.