Anibal Sanchez

Sánchez was signed by the Boston Red Sox as an international free agent in 2001. After playing in the Venezuelan Summer League for two seasons, Sánchez suffered an elbow injury that required surgery to move his elbow ligament, causing him to miss the entire 2003 season.

Sánchez became the 19th rookie pitcher since 1900 to pitch a no-hitter, and the first since Bud Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals no-hit the San Diego Padres on September 3, 2001. His no-hitter was also the fourth no-hitter in Marlins history, after Al Leiter, Kevin Brown, and A. J. Burnett. Sánchez became the second Venezuelan pitcher to pitch a no-hitter in the major leagues, joining Wilson Álvarez, who pitched a no-hitter with the Chicago White Sox against the Baltimore Orioles on August 11, 1991.

On June 25, he was called up to the majors to start the second half of a doubleheader in Yankee Stadium against the Yankees. Sánchez's major league debut was a strong one, as he allowed seven hits and no runs in 5⁄3 innings against the Yankees. He then turned the game over to his bullpen, which blanked the Yankees the rest of the way, shutting out the Yankees for the first time all year, 5–0. Sánchez became just the second visiting starter in the past decade to win his big-league debut at Yankee Stadium (fellow Venezuelan Gustavo Chacín of the Toronto Blue Jays, who beat the Yankees in September 2004, is the other). On July 14, the 22-year-old Sánchez started against and defeated Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens, who made his MLB debut when Sánchez was just three months old.

Sánchez's no-hitter against Arizona ended the longest no-hitter drought in Major League Baseball history; there had been 6,364 consecutive major-league games without a no-hitter since Randy Johnson's perfect game on May 18, 2004. The previous record was a 4,015-game streak without a no-hitter, which lasted from September 30, 1984, to September 19, 1986. On the same night that Sánchez recorded his no-hitter, Johnson nearly pitched another one, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the New York Yankees against the Kansas City Royals.

2005 saw the young prospect starting the season off in Wilmington, Boston's High-A ball affiliate. After posting a 6–1 record with a 2.40 ERA, receiving a selection for the All-Star Futures Game, and making the Carolina League All-Star team, he was promoted to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. Sánchez got off to a hot start there, but tired toward the end of the season, creating some concern about his durability. Still, Sánchez put up a 3.45 ERA over 11 starts in his first year in Double-A; at 21 years old, he was still one of the youngest players in his league.

In the following year, he returned to the mound, this time making his debut on American soil with the short-season Single-A Lowell Spinners. In 15 starts, Sánchez posted a 3–4 record with a 1.77 earned run average (ERA), and by the end of the year was widely considered one of Boston's top pitching prospects. After the 2004 season, Baseball America named Sánchez Boston's fifth-best prospect, behind shortstop Hanley Ramírez, outfielder Brandon Moss, and pitchers Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester. By 2006, Ramírez, Papelbon, and Lester had all played in the majors; Moss was selected as the Portland Sea Dogs most valuable player in 2006.

The Marlins started six rookies in their Opening Day lineup in 2006, but elected to have Sánchez return to Class AA to start the season with the Carolina Mudcats. Sánchez made his first 15 starts in 2006 with Mudcats, for whom he posted a 3–6 record with a 3.15 ERA. While with Carolina, he pitched two complete games, one of which was a seven-hit shutout.

On September 6, 2006, Sánchez no-hit the Arizona Diamondbacks 2–0 at Dolphin Stadium. He walked four batters and struck out six, throwing 103 pitches. The Marlins, who used 21 rookies during the 2006 season, started six in Sánchez's no-hitter, setting the record for most rookies to play for the winning team in a no-hitter.

On July 31, 2008, Sánchez pitched his first Major League game in almost 15 months against the Colorado Rockies. He had a solid outing and pitched 5⁄3 innings while giving up two runs on six hits and striking out four. The Marlins went on to win that game 12–2, with Sánchez collecting his first win of the season.

Another shortened season limited Sánchez to 16 starts in 2009, but he saw improvements in his stats, finishing with a 3.87 ERA and his lowest WHIP and opponent's batting average since his rookie year.

2010 saw Sánchez finally get through a whole season, as he was the only Marlins' starter to stay in the starting rotation for the entire season. He set a career high in wins with 13, with a still-declining ERA of 3.55 and 195 innings pitched.

Aníbal made 19 starts for the Miami Marlins in 2012, compiling a 5–7 record with a 3.94 ERA.

On July 23, 2012, Sánchez was traded to the Detroit Tigers along with Omar Infante for Jacob Turner, Rob Brantly, Brian Flynn and a draft pick. In 12 starts for the Tigers, he went 4–6 with a 3.74 ERA. The Tigers won the AL Central division, giving Sánchez a chance to play in the first postseason of his career.

In the 2012 ALDS against the Oakland Athletics, Sánchez started and lost Game 3 despite giving up two runs in 6⁄3 innings, as the Tigers offense did not score in the game. In Game 2 of the 2012 ALCS, Sánchez shut out the New York Yankees on three hits over seven innings, and earned the win in a 3–0 game. In Game 3 of the 2012 World Series, Sánchez struck out eight over seven innings, but took the loss in the Tigers 2–0 defeat to the San Francisco Giants. Overall, he went 1–2 in the 2012 postseason with a 1.77 ERA.

On December 14, 2012, Sánchez agreed to a five-year, $80 million contract to remain with the Tigers. The deal includes $75 million in salary for five years, plus a team option in the sixth year for an additional $16 million, making the total value of the contract worth a potential $91 million. If the Tigers did not exercise the option, they would have owed Sánchez a $5 million buyout fee.

Sánchez throws five pitches, giving him a variety of weapons to use against right-handed and left-handed hitters. He throws a four-seam fastball in the 88–94 MPH range, a two-seam sinker with similar velocity, a slider in the mid-80s, a changeup with strong tailing action in the 79–85 MPH range, and an occasional curveball in the mid- to upper-70s Teammates Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander have both claimed in interviews that Sánchez actually throws two different changeups: the standard one in the 79–85 mph range, and a slower one in the mid-60s to low-70s that they call the "butterfly pitch". Aníbal is known for keeping hitters off-balance with his willingness to throw any pitch at any time in the count. Baseball writer Mike Axisa stated in 2013, "Rotation mates Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander overpower hitters. Sánchez confuses them."

Sánchez entered 2014 as the Tigers' #3 starter. On April 26, he was placed on the disabled list due to a laceration on his right middle finger. He returned successfully to the rotation with a win over the Boston Red Sox on May 18. On June 30, Sánchez struck out Alberto Callaspo of the Oakland Athletics for his 1,000th career strikeout.

Sánchez began 2015 as the Tigers' #2 starter, due to the offseason loss of Max Scherzer and an injury to Justin Verlander. He had a rough start to the 2015 season, surrendering 13 home runs through his first 12 starts (after giving up just four homers in 22 games during the 2014 season). He showed signs of turning the season around in June, allowing zero runs in back-to-back starts against the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. In the latter game on June 15, Sánchez threw a two-hit shutout in a 6–0 Tigers win. It was the seventh shutout of his career, and his first complete game since May 24, 2013. Sánchez allowed no walks, struck out seven, and faced just one batter over the minimum.

On February 20, 2018, Sánchez signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Minnesota Twins that was conditional on making the club out of spring training. He was released by the Twins on March 11.

On March 16, 2018, Sánchez signed a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves. On April 2, Sánchez's contract was selected by the Braves. He landed on the disabled list on April 18 after suffering a hamstring injury. After missing more than a month, he was activated off the disabled list on May 29. Sánchez had his best season, statistically, since 2013, finishing with a record of 7–6 with a 2.83 ERA in 24 starts.

Coming off a productive bounceback season with the Braves, Sánchez signed a $19 million two-year deal with the division rival Washington Nationals on December 27, 2018. The deal also includes a club option for the 2021 season. Sánchez earned his 100th career win on June 16, 2019 against the Arizona Diamondbacks In 2019 he was 11-8 with a 3.85 ERA in 30 starts, and led all NL pitchers in errors with four.

In 2020 he was 4-5 with a 6.62 ERA. He led the NL in earned runs allowed (39).