{"id":419937,"date":"2026-01-21T02:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/419937\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T02:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:39:10","slug":"will-cristopher-sanchez-pitch-in-the-world-baseball-classic-the-lefty-is-waiting-for-an-answer-from-the-phillies-phillies-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/419937\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Cristopher S\u00e1nchez pitch in the World Baseball Classic? The lefty is waiting for an answer from the Phillies \u2013 Phillies Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Will Cristopher S\u00e1nchez pitch in the World Baseball Classic? (Jeff Robinson\/Icon Sportswire)<\/p>\n

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Left-hander Cristopher S\u00e1nchez\u2019s status for the 2026 World Baseball Classic is still up in the air, as the Phillies have not yet given the starting pitcher the OK to play for the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there\u2019s a lot of speculation on that right now,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said through an interpreter on Tuesday inside the Phillies\u2019 clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park. \u201cI\u2019m not ready to answer anything on that yet. I still have to talk to the Phillies about it, and up until I get a legitimate answer, I don\u2019t want to comment on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez, 29, confirmed that he\u2019d like to pitch in the international tournament if the Phillies are on board. The Dominican Republic begins WBC play against Nicaragua on Friday, March 6, at Miami\u2019s loanDepot Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cIt\u2019s always going to be an honor for me to be able to represent my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the most impressive developmental successes in the major leagues over the past handful of seasons, S\u00e1nchez took another massive step forward in 2025. He had a 2.50 ERA in 32 starts, pitching 202 innings and striking out 212 batters. S\u00e1nchez was the runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award.<\/p>\n

With ace Zack Wheeler missing the later part of the season with thoracic outlet syndrome, S\u00e1nchez stepped into the No. 1 starter role and handled it well. The lefty could potentially make his first career Opening Day start this year with Wheeler still working his way back. But even with S\u00e1nchez\u2019s increased importance to the Phillies, manager Rob Thomson said he\u2019d have no reservations about the 6-foot-6 workhorse representing the Dominican Republic in the WBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great honor to pitch for your country,\u201d Thomson, who played in the 1984 Olympics, said. \u201cI really do. I\u2019ve done it a couple of times, to be able to play for Team Canada a couple of times. But to play for your country is quite an honor. You\u2019re holding your breath when the guys go, but at the end of it, if they kind of come out of it clean, I think it\u2019s really good.\u2019<\/p>\n

Thomson has spoken about some of the difficulties of the WBC for a big-league team in the past. The tournament takes place during spring training, taking players away from camp in the weeks leading up to the regular season. Trea Turner played for Team USA in the 2023 WBC shortly before his first year with the Phillies began, which might have interrupted his acclimation process.<\/p>\n

So far, the Phillies have a number of players currently committed to participating in the 2026 WBC. Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Brad Keller will play for Team USA. Edmundo Sosa will represent Panama. Garrett Stubbs will play for Israel. Taijuan Walker and Alan Rangel<\/a> will pitch for Mexico. Johan Rojas<\/a> will represent the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

Perhaps S\u00e1nchez could be one of the next Phillies to join that list.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the guys that are going this year have been around for a while,\u201d Thomson said, \u201cso long as they stay healthy, I think it\u2019s a great honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Cristopher S\u00e1nchez pitch in the World Baseball Classic? (Jeff Robinson\/Icon Sportswire) PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Left-hander Cristopher S\u00e1nchez\u2019s status…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-419937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}