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The Toronto Blue Jays’ right fielder Jesus Sanchez walks out of the dugout for an interview at the end of the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins at the Rogers Centre.Nick Turchiaro/Reuters
Ninety minutes after the Blue Jays defeated the Marlins on Tuesday night, Jesús Sánchez exited Rogers Centre and found 100 or more fans waiting.
They began to applaud and chant his name as soon as they caught sight of the 28-year-old outfielder. Some were so excited they tried to sneak around a barrier security officers had set up to separate them.
The power hitter from the Dominican Republic has rapidly become a favourite for the team’s followers, and there is much about him to appreciate.
On the field and off he almost always carries a broad smile. He goes out of his way to chat with kids, sometimes on one knee for the youngest ones. At times he steps in to help journalists as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking teammates who don’t speak English as well as he does. He teases Kazuma Okamoto, whose dressing stall is beside him. The third baseman may not quite understand him due to language differences but Okamoto laughs nonetheless.
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As the club travelled to Baltimore at midweek for a four-game series, Sanchez was batting .281 and had 27 runs driven in, tied for second with Andres Gimenez behind Okamoto’s team-high 29.
On Tuesday the left-handed swinger turned on a 99-mile-per hour fastball from former Cy Young Award-winner Sandy Alcantara and blasted it 394 feet right field. It turned out to be Sanchez’s first grand slam in six seasons in the major leagues and propelled Toronto to an 8-1 victory.
The sellout crowd erupted after the ball cleared the wall and Sanchez trotted around the bases. Hours later some of them stayed to congratulate him.
Rather than being intimidated by the throng, he painstakingly stopped to sign autographs one after another and used their phones to take selfies with them.
“I love the fans,” Sanchez said. “I try to do my best for them and my teammates. There occasionally are a few fans that wait for me but not like [Tuesday night].”
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Sanchez hits a grand slam home run against the Miami Marlins during the sixth inning.Nick Turchiaro/Reuters
The Blue Jays acquired Sanchez during spring training in a trade with the Houston Astros for outfielder Joey Loperfido. The move occurred after slugger Anthony Santander reinjured his left shoulder, which had limited him to 54 games in 2025.
Sanchez is an adequate outfielder but was primarily brought in for his prowess to hit right-handed pitchers. The plan was to platoon him against lefties, against whom he entered the season with about a .100 average.
He has improved that enough – .143 – to find his way into the lineup more frequently than anticipated and is touching up righties this campaign at just below .300.
Sanchez was not drafted but signed as an international free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2013. He was later traded to the Marlins, then the Astros, and finally to the Blue Jays.
He made his big league debut with Miami in 2020 and has exhibited spectacular power. In 2022 in Denver, he crushed a 496-foot home run off right-hander Ryan Feltner of Colorado into the third deck at Coors Field. Two years later, still with the Marlins, he demolished a pitch by righty Nick Martinez 480 feet in Cincinnati.
On the day Sanchez was acquired by the Blue Jays in February, Toronto manager John Schneider praised him and spoke about the important role he could play.
“He is someone we have seen and we are hoping to tap into that power and maybe get a little more,” Schneider said.
The grand slam against Miami this week was not that far but no less impressive.
“It was a no-doubter,” Schneider called it. “That’s the kind of swing you want to from him. It is let it rip and try to get the ball in the air to right field or right-centre.”
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Sanchez celebrates after hitting a grand slam home run.Nick Turchiaro/Reuters
As he rounded the bases, Sanchez looked skyward for a moment and then put on the team’s home-run jacket in the dugout for the sixth time this season.
“It took me a long time to hit [a grand slam], but it was amazing,” Sanchez said. “I’m very happy.”
Sanchez was especially pleased to pull a nearly 100-mph pitch deep into right field.
“It shows my work is helping,” he said. “I just need to keep at it.”
Sanchez entered the series in Baltimore with 79 career homers. The most he has hit in one season is 18 in 2024.
“My goal when I came here was to have a very good season,” Sanchez said. “I have the talent to do that but I have to work at it and play better.
“I need to be focused and do my thing. I want to help win games. That’s why the Blue Jays brought me here.”
