Phillies' Ace Named to Bleacher Report's All-MLB Team After Dominant 2025 Season

Cristopher Sanchez was one of the top pitchers in baseball in 2025, and is beginning to see the first wave of postseason accolades come his way

Oct 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez (61) reacts after striking out Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (not pictured) in the fifth inning during game one of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies have boasted one of MLB's premier starting rotations in recent years, and breakout performances have become a staple of their success. Even with the injury to veteran and Cy Young candidate Zach Wheeler, the rotation shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS despite losing the series.

Pitching coach Caleb Cotham has seen a lion's share of success stories with developing pitchers for Philadelphia, especially southpaws. 2025 offseason trade acquisition Jesus Luzardo was quickly developed into another top-of-the-rotation arm, and Ranger Suarez has been consistently improving, with his best season also coming in 2025.

There may not be a more surprising breakout pitcher in baseball than arguably the Phillies' most dominant arm, Cristopher Sanchez.

A pure lottery ticket addition by trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019, he finally made it onto the MLB roster in 2021 and 2021, struggling as both a starter and reliever in brief stints.

Sanchez's development accelerated into becoming a quality starter in 2023, took a step forward in 2024, and skyrocketed to the upper echelon of MLB starting pitchers with his performance in 2025. Across 32 starts and 202.0 innings pitched, he posted a 2.50 Earned Run Average, allowing just over one batter to reach per inning, and striking out 212.

Cristopher Sanchez Named All-MLB Pitcher

Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter released their official All-MLB team for the 2025 season on Wednesday morning, and Sanchez was among the five starters listed.

Behind Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes, Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal, and Boston Red Sox' Garrett Crochet, Sanchez landed at the #4 spot, receiving loads of praise from Reuter's analysis.

"The 28-year-old tied for the MLB lead with 22 quality starts while leading all pitchers with 8.0 WAR, and his strikeout rate jumped from 20.3 to 26.3 percent," Reuter said. "His changeup was one of the best pitches in baseball, generating a 45.1 percent whiff rate and accounting for 130 of his 212 strikeouts."

The underlying data tells a similar story. His Baseball Savant page is about as bright red as it can be, with just about all of his metrics reaching high-percentile marks. Sanchez's pitching run value finished in the 99th percentile, with an 88th percentile Expected ERA and 85th percentile Whiff%, just to name a handful of his top results.

With official MLB awards set to be announced over the coming weeks, this is expected to be just the first of many accolades that Sanchez will receive for his 2025 campaign.