Jesus Sanchez’s mentality as he competes for Marlins roster spot: ‘Just trust in myself’

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Jesus Sanchez is trying not to overthink the situation. The Miami Marlins outfielder knows the importance of this spring training but also knows that worrying about it too much will only hamper him from his ultimate goal.

The situation: Sanchez is out of minor-league options, which means he has to make the Marlins’ Opening Day roster or else be subjected to waivers. The 25-year-old has shown flashes of his talent over the past three seasons since making his MLB debut but has never truly put all of his skills together at the big-league level.

Now, to add another layer to it, he has a new manager and new coaching staff to impress while trying to get his all-around game together and earn a spot on the team.

With how the Marlins’ roster is currently constructed and assuming both veteran infielders Yuli Gurriel and Jose Iglesias make the team (which isn’t necessarily a guarantee), Sanchez is essentially competing with fellow outfielder Bryan De La Cruz for a final roster spot as the starting left fielder. Both can also play right field and make the occasional start in center when Jazz Chisholm Jr. needs a day off.

So how is Sanchez compartmentalizing everything he has to accomplish with so much at stake?

“Just trust in myself,” he said.

It’s something he didn’t always do last season.

Sanchez began the 2022 season as the Marlins’ starting center fielder and had a great start to the season offensively, hitting .282 with an .839 on-base-plus slugging percentage mark in April. After that, he had just a .181 batting average with 63 strikeouts over 247 plate appearances before being optioned to Triple A Jacksonville on Aug. 4. He returned to the big-league club on Sept. 29 and got six hits, including two doubles and a home run, in his final five games of the season.

He played Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic and came into spring training with a renewed confidence.

“It’s a matter of just staying calm and just trying to do things for me,” Sanchez said. “The way I play the game, it’s not listening to and pleasing other people. It’s more about the way I do my things and trust in that.”

And, for his part, Sanchez has looked sharp this spring.

He is hitting .300 (12 for 40) with a .758 on-base-plus-slugging mark, five doubles, three RBI, three runs scored and three stolen bases. The majority of his hits have gone opposite field or to center field after primarily pulling the ball last season.

“His at-bats have gotten better,” general manager Kim Ng said. “They definitely have gotten better. There’s an effort to understand what’s going on in the count and to downshift when needed. All of those are positive, but we still have some time to go.”

Added first-year Marlins manager Skip Schumaker: “Sanchez is a big and strong guy. He will run into home runs. The scary part for pitchers is when you can manipulate the barrel and hit up, down, out, in — and not just one spot. And he’s showing that he can do that right now. It’s spring training, but it’s really fun to watch him grow into a more of a complete hitter.”

Sanchez said he is leaning on veterans Jorge Soler and Avisail Garcia this year for mentorship. He has also talked with utility player Jon Berti, who led MLB in stolen bases last year about being a better baserunner.

“He got the third [stolen base] before I did this spring, and he let me know,” Berti said. “It’s been good. He’s been asking a lot of questions, and just doing my best to help him out. The more we can help each other out, the better off we’re going to be as a team.”

While Sanchez has worked on the physical attributes of his game — perfecting his swing, getting his timing right, being more aggressive in counts that warrant it — he views the mental side of his performance to be even more important. He’s coming into camp each day with a positive attitude and focusing on the present moment, not letting what happened in the past — good, bad or indifferent — impact what he is able to do that day.

Whatever happens from there, Sanchez will be OK with.

“I’m not having any type of pressure,” Sanchez said. “I think I’m a good player, so I trust myself in that way. I love baseball, so I just go out there, play the game, play hard, and just keep trusting in myself.”