Mudcats' Sanchez a big hit

League MVP could get call to big leagues

There's no feeling quite like putting the fat part of a bat on a baseball, like really connecting.

Actually, there's no feeling, period, said Gaby Sanchez of the Carolina Mudcats.

"To tell you the truth, you don't feel anything," Sanchez said. "All you hear is just the crack of the bat, and there's no feeling in your hands or anything. You just see the ball go."

Judging by that sensation, he's heard plenty and felt little this season. Sanchez was named the Southern League's Most Valuable Player in a vote of managers, radio broadcasters and print reporters. Batting cleanup, he has led the Florida Marlins' Double-A farm team to the North Division second-half title and the playoffs.

From the time he was playing T-ball at age 4 in his native Miami, the son of Cuban immigrants, Gaby Sanchez has loved to hit, and his ability is primarily responsible for getting him this far as a professional ballplayer.

Sanchez, who turned 25 Tuesday, finished the regular season in the league's top 10 in every major batting category, with a .314 average, 17 home runs, 92 RBIs and a league-leading 42 doubles. He even stole 17 bases and demonstrated his intelligence and discipline at the plate by accumulating almost as many bases on balls (69) as strikeouts (70).

Mudcats manager Matt Raleigh describes Sanchez as "a low-maintenance guy, meaning he doesn't have a lot of holes in his swing and he keeps things pretty simple."

Able to hit the ball anywhere from the right-field foul line to the left-field line, he has put himself in a strong position to be called up to the major-league Marlins before the end of this year or in the near future, Raleigh said in a telephone interview.

Jim Fleming, the Marlins' vice president of player development and scouting, said the club wants Sanchez to stay with the Mudcats through the playoffs before deciding whether to promote him. Carolina took a 2-0 lead over the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx with a 7-1 victory Wednesday and an 11-2 win Thursday in Jackson, Tenn. The Mudcats can clinch the best-of-five series at home this evening.

Fleming likes Sanchez's experience of playing at either first base or third, although Raleigh believes Sanchez's best chance to make it in the majors will be at first.

Wherever he plays, Sanchez probably will benefit from coming up in the Marlins' system. The franchise's spending habits make it a good place for rising prospects, if not established players seeking big contracts. The Marlins' 2008 payroll is the lowest in the majors -- by far -- at $21,836,500, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press. Their average salary is $661,712. The Tampa Bay Rays are next to last in average salary at $1,460,687.

"The opportunities that present themselves are amazing, so if you're a guy in Double-A or Triple-A and you're having a good year, you're going to have a good chance to play at the big-league level a little bit earlier," Raleigh said.

Florida first baseman Mike Jacobs has hit a career-high 28 home runs this year, but he is batting only .241, is considered weak defensively, and will be eligible for arbitration. Faced with the prospect of possibly having to pay him $4 million or more in 2009, the Marlins may listen to trade offers, knowing that Sanchez is waiting.

Because Sanchez would not be eligible for arbitration until he has played for three years at the major-league level, he looms as a much cheaper alternative.

The Marlins chose Sanchez in the fourth round of the 2005 amateur entry draft after his junior year at the University of Miami, and gave him a signing bonus of $250,000. They may have gotten a good deal on him then, as well, because he had been suspended for the entire season for reasons that Miami and Sanchez still refuse to disclose.

The official explanation is that he violated university policy. He could not play in games but could practice. He tried to make himself more appealing by "catching bullpens" -- working as a catcher with the Hurricanes' pitchers.

"Well, that was just so scouts were able to see me at different positions, just to give me a different look," Sanchez said in a phone interview. "I just wanted to be out there doing something."

Last November, Baseball America rated Sanchez as the 10th-best prospect in the Marlins' system. This season, he has improved defensively, said Raleigh, the Mudcats' manager, although Sanchez has made six errors in 69 games at first base and 12 errors in 62 games at third.

The manager said Sanchez has lost 14 to 20 pounds this season -- he's listed at 6 feet 2 and 225 pounds -- with hard work and a good diet.

"He's taken his seriousness to another level," Raleigh said. "... He just looks like a much better ballplayer."

And he looks like one who won't last too much longer in Zebulon. As much as he's worked on his fitness and defensive skills, he still looks best with a bat.

Said Fleming, the Marlins' VP: "Our expectation is that he's just going to hit."