The Red Sox finally acquired a third catcher on Aug. 8 when they picked up former Toronto Blue Jays backstop Ali Sanchez off the waiver wire. But Sanchez went on to have one of the more unusual tenures of any Red Sox player this year, culminating on Tuesday when the 28-year-old journeyman declared free agency.
The Red Sox acquired Sanchez not just once in 2025, but twice — only to have the Carora, Venezuela, native get into only four games, with just two plate appearances, one of them as a pinch hitter. Sanchez compiled a batting average of .000 with one of his two at-bats ending in a strikeout.
After first picking Sanchez off the waiver wire, the Red Sox designated the catcher for assignment only 10 days later when they needed to make room on the roster for another free agent pickup, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who had been DFA’d by the Washington Nationals.
Rather than go back to the minor leagues, Sanchez at that time chose to become a free agent and signed with the New York Mets on August 23. But Sanchez was not a Met for long. A mere eight days after he signed, the Mets sent him back to the Red Sox in a trade for cash.
The Red Sox added Sanchez their roster, expanded to 28 players for the month of September, but made little use of him. On Sept. 21, the Boston organization designated Sanchez for assignment again. This time, the catcher who started his professional career by signing with the Mets in 2013 cleared waivers.
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The Red Sox then assigned him to Triple-A Worcester. But by that time, the minor league season was over, so the Red Sox sent Sanchez to their facility in Fort Myers, Florida, in order to train for the postseason if he were to be needed. He wasn’t.
But Sanchez remained a member of the Red Sox through their three-game elimination by the New York Yankees in the wild card series.
Because he had earlier been outrighted off the Red Sox 40-man roster when they assigned him to Triple-A, Sanchez was eligible to become a free agent once the season was over. He took advantage off that opportunity and will now be looking to sign elsewhere, most likely on a minor-league contract.
Perhaps the most noteworthy moment of Sanchez’s season on the field came when he was with the Blue Jays. On July 29 he was inserted into a game against the Baltimore Orioles not as a catcher but as a pitcher. In the eighth inning with Toronto on the wrong end of a 14-4 score, Sanchez allowed two more runs and three hits.
But when he struck out Baltimore’s Alex Jackson on a 35-mph eephus pitch, he earned the distinction of throwing the slowest pitch for a strikeout in the 2025 season.
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