Can a player “Break Out” two years in a row?

You’d think that a player can only have a breakout season once, yet Cristopher Sanchez is starting to look like he’s primed to follow up last year’s breakout season with yet another.

So far in spring training, his fastball has hit 98 mph six times — significantly higher than his 94.5 mph average last season. That’s also increased from 92.1 mph in 2023. This increase has turned his changeup into one of the best in baseball and improved an already-deadly sinker, which is now sitting around 97 mph.

In 2024, his age-27 season, he went 11-9 in 31 starts with a 3.32 ERA, 122 ERA+, 1.24 WHIP, 20.3 K%, two complete games, and one shutout. He threw a career-high 181.2 innings and amassed a 4.7 fWAR.…