Phillies Will Face Their Former Top Prospect — The Sensational Sixto Sanchez

Be warned, Phillies fans, this could be painful. Today you will get a first-hand look at Sixto Sanchez, the prized pitching prospect the Phils gave up to land catcher J.T. Realmuto.

Sanchez will start for the Marlins against the Phillies in the final contest of a 7-game series between the two teams. Since he made his big-league debut on Aug. 22, Sanchez has been sensational. The 22-year-old right-hander is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and has an otherworldly 25-2 strikeouts-to-walks ratio in four starts.

Sanchez’s stuff is unadulterated filth — triple-digit filth — Pedro Martinez filth. And his mound persona is so Pedro — cocky, quirky, strutting. In the words of Madonna, Sanchez will vogue:

Yeah, ouch.

“If he stays healthy, he’s going to give people fits for a long time,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after Sanchez blanked Atlanta for six innings Tuesday night. “That’s the total package right there.”

In Feb. 2019, the Phillies packaged Sanchez, who was the team’s No. 1 prospect at the time, with up-and-coming catcher Jorge Alfaro and minor-league pitcher Will Stewart to acquire Realmuto from the Marlins. Realmuto became a bargaining chip in the Phillies winning the Bryce Harper sweepstakes after Harper said Realmuto was his favorite player. And all looked good as the Phillies had two legit superstars heading into the 2019 season.

But here’s what glitched: The Phils have had 20 months to sign Realmuto to an extension — something that seemed inevitable at one point — but it has never materialized. And Realmuto will be a free agent in about eight weeks.

Everybody in Philly – including Harper — has demanded: “Sign, J.T.!” Harper shouted that very message to the owner’s box after Realmuto slammed a home run during summer camp. And there was even truck-billboard guy who circled Citizens Bank Park demanding Realmuto’s signing:

If the Phillies lose Realmuto in free agency, there is little consolation. Although Realmuto has lived up to his billing as the best catcher in baseball, the team skidded to a .500 finish in his first year. And this year feels more of an experiment than an actual baseball season.

And now with Sanchez’s emergence, failing to extend Realmuto looks like a looming debacle.

And then there’s this… the really painful stuff: The alternate-universe fantasy of Aaron Nola and Sanchez leading a Phillie rotation that could haunt the fanbase for years. The one person this could haunt most is Phillies general manager Matt Klentak, who swung the deal for Realmuto.

At the time of the trade, Klentak said: “I think it was a deal that made sense for both sides. We added immediate impact to our club, while they received more future value.” Klentak wasn’t wrong in that assessment, but the future is now for Sanchez. And the future is also now for Klentak to get Realmuto signed — somehow, someway. If he doesn’t, the Phillies will be minus both Realmuto and Sanchez. And the Realmuto deal could go down as an epic disaster.