Blue Jays' Gibbons on Sanchez: He's pretty much a lock to start

Aaron Sanchez waited all winter for the Toronto Blue Jays to define his role for the upcoming season. 

With less than three weeks to go before Opening Day, he's finally got his answer, and all it took was a season-ending injury to the club's best pitcher.

Sanchez is expected to claim a spot in the starting rotation, manager John Gibbons said Thursday, ending speculation the hard-throwing youngster could be used in the closer's role to start the season. Marcus Stroman's torn ACL all but assured Sanchez the job.

"He's pretty much locked into (the rotation) now," Gibbons admitted to reporters prior to the Blue Jays' spring game against the Boston Red Sox.

Sanchez, 22, dazzled in his major league debut last summer, pitching to a minuscule 1.09 ERA with 27 strikeouts over 33 innings of relief. It's unclear if the Blue Jays will restrict Sanchez to an innings cap this season, but his 133 1/3 innings pitched across three levels in 2014 marked a career high.

Though Sanchez struggled with control as a starter in the minors – he averaged over four walks per nine in each of his four professional seasons – the lanky right-hander possesses the type of upside that has scouts optimistic of his transition to the rotation. 

Baseball America ranked Sanchez the club's second-best prospect this season ahead of left-hander Daniel Norris, who Gibbons said Thursday remains in a battle with Marco Estrada for the final starter's job.

Meanwhile, another young Blue Jays right-hander is making his case for a big-league roster spot.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos told Sportsnet The Fan 590 that 20-year-old pitcher Miguel Castro is "putting himself in an unbelievable position" to make the team after impressing at camp with 6 2/3 scoreless innings and four strikeouts so far this spring.