A Tremendous Honor for Phillies Lefty Cristopher Sanchez

Not only will Cristopher Sanchez represent the Dominican Republic in next month's World Baseball Classic, he's been named the team's de facto ace.

Sanchez will be the Dominican team's Game 1 starter on March 6 against Nicaragua, manager Albert Pujols announced Tuesday. Luis Severino, Brayan Bello and Sandy Alcantara will slot in behind Sanchez.

Sanchez may start once in Phillies camp before then, likely going two innings, and don't expect him to go any deeper than four maximum against Nicaragua.

The Phillies' lefty finished second in National League Cy Young voting last season after delivering a 2.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and elite strikeout, walk and home run numbers over 202 innings. He's taken major strides forward three years in a row and enters the 2026 season viewed as one of baseball's Top 7 to 10 starting pitchers.

How much difference a few years can make. At this time in 2023 for the most recent World Baseball Classic, Sanchez wasn't even a focal point of the Phillies' rotation. Back then, he was coming off of a 2022 season in which he performed over 14 starts at Triple A but again struggled with control and command in the majors.

Things have obviously clicked into place for the 6-foot-6 lefty since. He broke out in the summer of 2023 to solidify his spot on the Phillies' staff, reached a higher level in 2024 and then established himself as an ace in 2025. He's turned into one of the best trades and contracts in Phillies history.

And nothing about it has looked fluky. Sanchez' peripheral metrics are just as strong as his traditional numbers. He also has two elite weapons in his changeup and sinker. His changeup has graded out as the second-best in baseball the last two seasons behind only Tarik Skubal's. And Sanchez' sinker last season graded out as by far the best in all of baseball, miles ahead of Framber Valdez and Garrett Crochet in the Nos. 2 and 3 spots.

He has weapons against hitters from both sides, he has control and command, he has the size of a workhorse, and as important as anything else, Sanchez now has the confidence that he's one of the best in the game. There's few batter-pitcher matchups he'll enter without the advantage.

Sanchez will be joined on the Dominican team by Phillies centerfielder Johan Rojas. Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Brad Keller will play for the USA. Jesus Luzardo will pitch for Venezuela. Aaron Nola and 2024 first-round pick Dante Nori will play for Italy. Taijuan Walker will pitch for Mexico. Edmundo Sosa will play for Panama. And Max Lazar and Garrett Stubbs are on Team Israel.

Jose Alvarado would have pitched for Venezuela but encountered an issue getting his contract insured by a third-party provider, similar to Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Mike Trout.

Players will leave camp the first few days of March to report to their teams. Sanchez, Rojas, Luzardo, Lazar and Stubbs won't have to travel far because pool play for their countries takes place at loanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins.

Harper, Schwarber, Keller, Nola, Nori and Walker will head to Daikin Park in Houston for their pool play.