Considered a rising star in the world of baseball and one of the Seattle Mariners’ highest-ranked pitching prospects, Victor Sanchez is reportedly clinging to life after being struck by a boat while swimming on Friday.
Sanchez, 20, was struck by a watercraft while swimming at a beach in his home country of Venezuela. The Spanish-language site Lavinotinto.com reported that Sanchez remained unconscious for some time after the accident occurred, and underwent emergency surgery on Saturday in order to repair his skull, which suffered a double fracture.
“He is in critical condition,” Dr. Rolando Cobis, who performed the emergency surgery, told Lavinotinto.com, as translated from Spanish. “At the moment he is critical but stable.… He is still fighting for his life. He is in vital danger.”
Sanchez remains in the ICU, and his listed as being in stable but critical condition.
The Mariners were informed of the accident by Sanchez’s agency in Venezuela on Saturday. The team is sending a Venezuelan employee to the hospital in Carupano in order to closely monitor the situation.
Just last year, the six-foot, 255-pound right-handed pitcher was ranked by MLB.com as the Mariners’ 11th-best prospect. In 2011, Sanchez signed a $2.5 million minor-league contract with the Mariners and has pitched for three years in Seattle’s farm system, playing last year for the Double-A Jackson Generals, where he was the second-youngest player in the Southern League.
During 2014 in 23 starts, Sanchez was 7-6 with 4.19 ERA, allowing 128 hits in just 124.2 innings with 97 strikeouts to 34 walks. In 2013, Sanchez tossed a no-hitter for the High-A Clinton Lumberkings.
Although Sanchez did not receive an invitation to participate in the Mariners’ major-league spring training, he was, however preparing to attend the team’s minor-league camp in Peoria, Arizona.
Injuries such as those Sanchez sustained during his boating accident commonly lead to bankruptcy due to crushing medical bills and expenses. While many believe bankruptcy filings are the result of poor financial management, more than half — 62% — of all filings in the United States are due to illness or medical bills.