Congratulations Tony Sanchez! Pirates Breakout Prospect Keeps Rolling

While Pittsburgh sportscasters keep talking about the reasons Tony Sanchez isn’t in Pittsburgh, Tony Sanchez keeps taking care of business.  Sanchez ripped a three-run home run into the right-field stands last night on his way to being named MVP as the International League topped the Pacific Coast League in the AAA All-Star Game in Reno.

What hasn’t Sanchez done this year?

In his first big league at-bat, Sanchez ripped a double when he was called to the majors to serve as the designated hitter during the series with the Angels.

In what has to be one of the best stories of the 2013 season, well outside of Pittsburgh at least, Sanchez continued a breakout season.    Everyone has heard about where Sanchez has come from and what he has accomplished, and, just as often, what he hasn’t accomplished.

The solid season from Sanchez kept rolling last night as Sanchez drilled Astros right-hander Jarred Cosart’s belt-high fastball over the right-field wall to put the International League up 4-2.  Vic Black closed out the game for the IL.   [Check out the video of Sanchez below]

From the Reno recap linked below, here was what Sanchez had to say after the game.

"“You don’t expect Cosart to give up four runs in the first two innings, I ended up getting enough of it to get it out, so I was proud of that. … I knew I hit it hard. Once I hit it, I knew it was at least a double."

@Tony26Montana  is hitting .282 (thanks to just eight hits in his last 40AB heading into the All-Star game.) for the Indianapolis Indians.  Sanchez hasn’t hit right-handers especially well this season, so it was cool to see the bomb last night off of one of the better right-handed pitching prospects in the game.  The success story for TSanch has been against left-handed pitching this year, as he has posted an 1.012 OPS and a .603 SLG percentage.

If the Bucs continue to struggle against lefties, it won’t be a surprise for us to see Sanchez getting a few more at-bats should trade deadline moves shake up the Pirates roster.

We can’t wait.

A picture of Sanchez along with some nice shots from the game is included in this recap from Reno.