Cristopher Sánchez will start Phillies’ season opener vs. Rangers
The Phillies’ rotation order to start the season following Sánchez will be Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, Taijuan Walker, and Andrew Painter.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — When Cristopher Sánchez walks onto the field on Thursday to start on opening day, he will look in the Citizens Bank Park stands for an important spectator.
When he waves up to his son, Sánchez hopes that Cris Jr. is able to understand what his father is doing.
“He’s 18 months old, but he looks 3,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “So I hope that he gets a little of what’s going on.”
Sánchez achieved one of his career goals on Friday when he was named the Phillies’ opening day starter. Manager Rob Thomson and the Phillies pitching coaches delivered the news to the lefty in Thomson’s office. He will start opposite Texas Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
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The Phillies’ rotation order to start the season following Sánchez will be Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, Taijuan Walker, and Andrew Painter. The 22-year-old righty has been informed that he made the team.
Zack Wheeler has started the past two opening days, but as he is still working his way back from thoracic outlet decompression surgery, Sánchez was the clear choice. When Wheeler’s season ended last August after a blood clot was identified in his arm, Sánchez stepped into the role of ace of the staff.
“Man, he’s so confident right now,” Thomson said. “Once he got command of his fastball and then he got the changeup, I mean, his confidence just went through the roof. And that’s all it is. He’s been very, very consistent.”
He posted a 2.50 ERA in 2025 in a career-high 202 innings, was the Phillies’ Game 1 starter in the National League Division Series, and was a unanimous runner-up in the NL Cy Young race.
Sánchez doesn’t have to look far for motivation to continue to raise his own expectations.
“The city that we have, the fans that we have, I think that’s more than enough of a motivation for me to go out every day and give my best,” he said. “Above everything else, I think it’s the city to fight for, to give the fans and the fan base what they deserve. That’s highly motivating for me.”
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Sánchez’s rise to one of the top left-handers in baseball has been meteoric.
The Phillies acquired him in 2019 from the Tampa Bay Rays in a minor-league swap for Curtis Mead. At the time, he was often overlooked as a prospect due to struggles with command. But an opportunity opened in 2022 for him to assume the No. 5 spot in the Phillies rotation, and Sánchez seized it.
His changeup has developed into one of the most elite pitches in baseball. According to StatCast metrics, it had a plus-18 run value in 2025, the second-highest marker out of all changeups behind the one thrown by back-to-back American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
In Sánchez’s final spring start on Friday, though, it was his slider that he felt was particularly sharp. He threw 50 pitches over five innings, allowing two hits. Sánchez threw more in the bullpen afterward to increase his pitch count.
Out of his four strikeouts, one came on his slider, one on his changeup, and two on his sinker.
The slider is typically a tertiary option for him behind his sinker and changeup. Sánchez threw his slider 16.6% of the time in 2025. He believes he can turn it into another weapon for him, one that can freeze righties backdoor and get swing-and-miss from lefties.
“I don’t know where the ceiling is,” Thomson said. “From where he’s come from, it could be anywhere.”
Despite playing only two seasons for the Phillies, Aaron Rowand left his mark. Literally. Twenty years ago Monday, Rowand smashed into the center-field fence and broke bones in his face to make a catch. And if that didn’t instantly boost his popularity with the fan base, his answer four days later to a question about why he would sacrifice his body certainly did. Rowand joins Phillies Extra to reminisce about “The Catch,” his role in helping to change the culture around the Phillies, and a lot more. Watch here.
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