This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Matthew Boyd still remembers being a young Tigers starter several years ago, trying to figure out how to stick in a Major League rotation. He had shown glimpses of potential since Detroit acquired him from Toronto in the David Price trade, but had yet to put it together.
Aníbal Sánchez was a well-established veteran of the Tigers’ rotation, not far removed from a 2013 season in which he led the American League in ERA and posted his second 200-strikeout campaign in three years. He was part of a star-studded rotation that was being rebuilt.
What Sánchez did from there stood out to Boyd.
“Good start, bad start, he would always sit me down,” Boyd said. “I remember one of the first times he sat me down in the video room and went through [my last start] pitch by pitch and said, ‘Hey, what were you trying to do on this pitch?’
“He really made me think critically about every pitch, and the intention behind every pitch, and that resonated with me. It’s something I do to this day now. He helped me elevate my focus, pitch by pitch.”
Sánchez announced his retirement last week, ending a 16-year Major League career that included six years with the Tigers. His trade from the Marlins, along with Omar Infante for former top prospect Jacob Turner, Rob Brantly and Brian Flynn, was one of the most successful moves of the Dave Dombrowski era as general manager, rounding out the Tigers’ pitching staff for a run toward the World Series and a dynasty of four consecutive AL Central titles.
His contract extension to stay in Detroit after the 2012 season, after he was on the verge of joining the Cubs as a free agent, became an example of the late owner Mike Ilitch’s commitment to the team and his loyalty to players who won for him.
The Tigers’ run of success ended before the contract did, as did Sánchez’s prime years as a pitcher. Still, as good of a pitcher as he was during those years — his 17-strikeout game against Atlanta on April 26, 2013, remains tied for the franchise record — he was a great teammate throughout.
Despite losing out to Boyd for the final spot in the rotation out of Spring Training in 2017, Sánchez continued to help the young left-hander. When Sánchez was struggling in the bullpen that year as a long reliever, he took an assignment to Triple-A Toledo to work as a starter and make a case to get back in the rotation.
“Through all that, he helped me every day,” Boyd said. “He helped me after starts, and that just spoke to who he was as a person. We were competing for a spot, but he knew we all needed to get better for us to win. The selflessness that he displayed, how much of a team guy he was, it was awesome, and I’m so grateful for him.”
No wonder so many Tigers were happy when Sánchez became a World Series champion with the Nationals in 2019. Though Boyd and Miguel Cabrera are the only Tigers left who were teammates with Sánchez in Detroit, his lessons and contributions aren’t forgotten.
“We’ve had a good relationship for a long time,” said Cabrera, who was a teammate of Sánchez for his first two Major League seasons in Miami before they reunited in Detroit. “To go back to see his career, it makes me feel proud. Besides being my teammate, he was my friend. I feel really happy about his career and what he did in baseball.
“He was in a tough spot here, because we had [Justin] Verlander and [Max] Scherzer and everybody talked about those two guys. But we knew what he was able to do on the mound. Every time he went out there, we felt comfortable.”