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Blue Jays 2026 40-man Roster Review: Jesús Sánchez is primed for a breakout season
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Photo credit: © Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Feb 14, 2026, 11:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 14, 2026, 09:47 EST
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It took until nearly the start of Spring Training, but the Toronto Blue Jays finally acquired an outfielder for the 2026 season.
This is Blue Jays Nation’s annual 40-man roster review ahead of the new season. If you missed the most recent article, we hilariously looked at Joey Loperfido, who was traded the following day for the player we’ll look at in today’s article, Jesús Sánchez.
Sánchez, 28, signed with the Tampa Bay Rays in the summer of 2014 as an international free agent, but was traded to the Miami Marlins before the 2019 trade deadline in exchange for Nick Anderson and former Blue Jay Trevor Richards.
The outfielder got a cup of coffee with the Marlins in 2020, but didn’t become somewhat of a regular until 2021, when he hit 14 home runs in 251 plate appearances, and slashed .251/.319/.489 for a 111 wRC+. In 2022, Sánchez slashed .214/.280/.403 with 13 home runs in 343 plate appearances for an 88 wRC+. His slash line improved to .253/.327/.450 with 14 home runs in 402 plate appearances during the 2023 season for a 108 wRC+.
Sánchez’s final full season with the Marlins came in 2024, where he slashed. 252/.313/.417 with a career-best 18 home runs in 537 plate appearances for a 101 wRC+. The outfielder appeared in 86 games for the Marlins, where he slashed .256/.320/.420 with 10 home runs in 337 plate appearances for a 104 wRC+, talk about consistency.
Before the 2025 trade deadline, the Marlins sent him to the Houston Astros, where he finished the season slashing .199/.269/.342 with four home runs in 160 plate appearances for a 71 wRC+, giving Sánchez a 93 wRC+ for the entirety of the season.
Sánchez is owed $6.8 million for the 2026 season, so the Astros sent the outfielder to the Blue Jays in exchange for Joey Loperfido, who was originally acquired from the Astros (along with Will Wagner and Jake Bloss) for Yusei Kikuchi at the 2024 trade deadline.
There’s a lot to like about Sánchez, albeit with some downsides. He’s good to give you double-digit home runs each season, with strong defence in the corner outfields.  For his career, Sánchez has 16 Defensive Runs Saved, 6 Outs Above Average, and 5 Fielding Run Value in 3,360.2 innings between left field and right field. With Addison Barger in right field, Sánchez may get a legitimate look in left field, where he had 3 DRS and 1 FRV in 191 innings last season with the Astros.
Sánchez has always had impressive bat speed since Baseball Savant began tracking it. Last season, it averaged 75.9 mph, which was in the 93rd percentile for bat speed in the league, while also averaging an exit velocity of 91.3 mph. His bat speed isn’t an outlier either, while Sánchez smacked the ball in 2024, finishing with a 51.3% hard-hit percentage and an average exit velocity of 92.5 mph.
Again, there is a massive downside to Sánchez, as the left-handed outfielder has always struggled to hit left-handed pitching. For his career, Sánchez is slashing just .181/.231/.289 against lefties over 378 plate appearances. That essentially limits him to a platoon role because he’s unplayable against left-handed pitching. It also means that the Blue Jays should look to get a right-handed pitcher that mashes left-handed pitching, Randal Grichuk, anyone?
According to Steamer, Sánchez is projected to slash .249/.317/.428 with 13 home runs in 369 plate appearances next season for a 107 wRC+. ZiPS has him batting .243/.310/.421 with 18 home runs in 490 plate appearances, with all projection models projecting that he’ll hit 13-18 home runs next season, right in line for his career norm.
Still, with impressive bat speed and the ability to smash the ball, it’s not unrealistic to believe in a potential breakout season for the 28-year-old under the guidance of Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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