Martínez's mentorship, friendship a dream for Sánchez

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Cristopher Sánchez heard the names Albert Pujols, Pedro Martínez and Nelson Cruz and glanced at his left arm.

He shook his head.

“Goosebumps,” he said via an interpreter.

Even now, even as Sánchez has established himself as one of baseball’s best starting pitchers, he cannot believe these baseball legends from the Dominican Republic not only know who he is, but have talked to him in recent months as the Dominican assembled an All-Star roster for the World Baseball Classic. Sánchez will pitch on Friday night against Korea in a quarterfinal game in Miami.

• A Classic first: DR's Sánchez strikes out four in an inning

“It’s impossible to reject calls like that,” Sánchez said one morning at BayCare Ballpark. “You have to take it. How could I say no to them? There’s no way that I can say no to that.”

Sánchez is grateful because he didn’t receive those calls a few years ago. He wasn’t on the Dominican’s radar before the 2023 WBC. He was 2-2 with a 5.63 ERA in 15 appearances for the Phillies in 2022.

Now he’s an NL Cy Young candidate.

Now he can text or call a legend like Martínez whenever he wants.

“It never entered my mind that something like this could happen,” Sánchez said.

• How Sánchez became one of MLB's best pitchers

Sánchez’s relationship with Martínez is a special one. They not only share a homeland, but they have both pitched for Philadelphia. Martínez pitched for the Phillies in 2009, his last season in the big leagues.

Martínez was at Citizens Bank Park last August for Jimmy Rollins’ induction onto the franchise’s Wall of Fame.

Following Rollins’ ceremony, WFMZ’s Roberto Vinces captured video of Martínez having a spirited conversation with Sánchez on the field. In a 43-second video, Martínez spoke and gestured enthusiastically to Sánchez. He raised both index fingers as he made a point. He waved his hands behind his head. He raised his index fingers again. He waved his hands behind his head again.

Sánchez nodded.

Martínez continued to talk. He pointed to his head. He then raised his left hand into the air and skipped his right hand off it, like a car jumping a ramp over a canyon. He skipped his right hand off his left hand again.

Martínez put his arm around Sánchez as they returned to the Phillies’ dugout.

“That’s just me and him talking about pitching,” Sánchez said. “It was about coming off one start and going to the next one. You come off a start, and that one’s behind you. It’s aspiring for more. It’s going onto the next challenge if you want to reach the highest level of competition.”

Sánchez went 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA in 32 starts last season. He finished second to Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes for the NL Cy Young Award. It was a great year, but Sánchez said he isn’t satisfied. He said he spent the offseason working on himself to make himself as consistently excellent as possible.

“This is not about one year,” Sánchez said. “It’s not even about two or three. This is about the long run. This is about being consistent for a long time. If I want to be great in this game, I have to do things this way. I need to be hard on myself.”

But how hard can he be on himself? What does that even look like?

“Always hard on myself because that’s what keeps me focused,” Sánchez said. “That’s what keeps me going on a high level. There’s too many distractions coming in and out, so the harder you are on yourself, the more consistent I think you’re going to be. If I want to be great, I have to keep doing that. There’s a lot of competition at this level. So I need to be hard on myself as long as it doesn’t make me rush things or make me lose my calm. It’s all a balance.”

It’s comforting to know, though, that if he ever loses his balance, Martínez is only a text or call away.

“Incredible,” Sánchez said.