Zach Buchanan

zbuchanan@enquirer.com

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Michael Lorenzen always bows when he sees Jonathan Sanchez, putting one fist into his palm and lowering his head as if acknowledging a martial arts master.

“What are you doing?” Sanchez asked at first.

“Only because I respect you so much,” Lorenzen responded.

The 33-year-old Sanchez may not be Mr. Miyagi, but he does have a World Series ring and a no-hitter to his name. That carries significance to the 24-year-old Lorenzen, especially in a Cincinnati Reds clubhouse full of young, inexperienced pitchers.

Sanchez is happy to help a young pitcher, but the left-hander didn’t sign a minor-league deal with the Reds to be only a veteran presence in spring training. Sanchez is here to get his career back on track.

Before popping up in the Puerto Rican winter league this offseason, Sanchez hadn’t pitched competitively since 2014. His last major-league action came a year before that.

His Cactus League appearance Thursday will be his first in two years.

The lefty’s career used to look much more promising. Sanchez beat long odds as a late-round draft pick with the San Francisco Giants, throwing a no-hitter in 2009 and spending a full year in the rotation in 2010. That season he posted a 3.07 ERA and seemed on the verge of achieving sustained success at 27, but injuries and command problems led to a down year in 2011.

Reds' rotation battle crowded

That offseason he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, who then flipped him to the Colorado Rockies at the trade deadline. His performance only worsened as he struck out fewer than he walked.

He made the Opening Day roster with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013 after entering camp on a minor-league deal, but was cut a month into the season. Two more minor-league pacts with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs failed to produce a call-up, and the latter ended prematurely when Sanchez hurt his shoulder in his first start of the season.

It looked like the end of his career.

“I thought that was it,” Sanchez said. “That was it, being hurt so much, I wasn’t going to be able to pitch again.”

The success of Scott Kazmir helped convince Sanchez otherwise. By the time Sanchez found himself recovering from his shoulder injury in Puerto Rico, Kazmir had completed a stunning return to relevance.

The former Tampa Bay Rays left-hander spent two years out of the majors, pitching instead in the independent leagues. He made the Cleveland Indians out of spring training and turned in a solid year, and has gone on to ink a pair of free-agent deals for a combined guarantee of $70 million. Others like Ryan Madson and Rich Hill have since returned to the big leagues after being baseball afterthoughts.

“I looked at that and said, ‘He did it. I can do it,’” Sanchez said.

That meant rebuilding his body and his delivery. After pitching in Puerto Rico the winter of 2014, Sanchez decided to take an entire year off from baseball to let his body recover.

For his delivery he turned to fellow Ohio Dominican University alum and winter ball coach Alex Cruz. The pair worked on generating more power from Sanchez’s hips, taking stress off his arm and giving him more consistency with his release point.

To hone Sanchez’s command, Cruz dressed a mannequin in a baseball uniform and placed it the batter’s box for every throw Sanchez delivered. After three and a half months – or 1,000 motions, as Cruz measured – Sanchez had a more streamlined delivery.

Reds minor-league coach Pat Kelly, who managed Sanchez’s team in Puerto Rico, noticed.

“It seemed like hitters never centered his pitches,” said Kelly, who compared Sanchez’s new delivery to that of David Price. “He had a good amount of strikeouts – he probably averaged one an inning.”

Sanchez pitched about 60 innings for Kelly, and after the season the coach called Reds president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty to recommend the team sign him. A couple other teams got involved – Sanchez mentioned interest from the Dodgers and Houston Astros – but Cincinnati clearly offered the least-obstructed path back to the majors.

For the Reds, Sanchez is a lottery ticket. He always had great stuff, and Cruz said he helped Sanchez introduce a cutter into his existing repertoire of a fastball, curve, sinker and split. If Sanchez can exhibit some hard-won savvy and stay healthy, he could provide a valuable veteran presence either in the rotation or the bullpen.

Cruz thinks Sanchez will surprise observers with his improved command and last another three or four years in the majors. The first step is making the Reds, although Sanchez can opt into free agency if not on the 25-man roster by June 15.

“If I make the team, I’m happy,” he said. “If I go to Triple-A, I just go down there and fight and do what I can do to get back there.”