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Sanchez reaches 200 innings despite workload concerns

Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

After enduring a season full of monitoring pitch counts and innings limits, Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez reached a significant benchmark Tuesday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Sanchez retired Cleveland Indians catcher Roberto Perez in the third inning of Game 4 of the ALCS, securing his first career 200-inning season.

In early August, there was debate between the front office and Sanchez about whether or not to protect his arm by moving him into the bullpen for the remainder of the season. Following much discussion and some criticism, general manager Ross Atkins decided that keeping the 24-year-old in the rotation was the best decision for the team.

Sanchez still had his innings managed, briefly spending time in Single-A to skip a couple of starts. Prior to 2016, Sanchez had never thrown more than 133 1/3 innings in a season; last year, he tossed 92 1/3 innings, split between the rotation and bullpen, in addition to 9 2/3 in the minors.

The former first-round pick finished his first regular season as a starter at 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over 192 innings.

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