Despite his least-likely image, Pittsburgh's Sanchez is 'Star

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A guy like Freddy Sanchez supposedly has no chance to make the All-Star team.
He began the season as a utility infielder on the league's worst club.
He doesn't hit many home runs.
He plays in a small market, and thus lacks the fan base and voting clout of the big-city stars.
And he almost never appears on national TV, making it difficult to develop name recognition outside his own city.
But somehow -- by persistence, ingenuity and a lot of hits -- Sanchez indeed will be on the bench July 11 at PNC Park, the same place he started the season, but this time for the National League All-Stars.
Underdog makes it
The Pittsburgh Pirates' third baseman will be one of the least likely players to occupy such a spot in years.
This will be the only time all season that the NL's leading hitter, with a .363 average going into Monday's game, will be happy being a backup.
"You kind of get that tag as a utility player, it's hard to break," said Sanchez, chosen as an NL reserve by Astros manager Phil Garner despite being a regular only since early May. "You kind of have other people telling you you're not good enough, so you've got to have that confidence in yourself. I've done it everywhere I've been, so I knew it was just a matter of playing time and at-bats."
Overcame handicap
What's remarkable is there once was a time when the 28-year-old former Red Sox farm hand never knew if he would be able to walk, much less have an athletic career. He was born with a deformed left foot -- he had a club foot and was severely pigeon-toed -- and needed a walker as a youngster even after having corrective surgery.
"They told me I might not be able to walk again. I had braces and everything," Sanchez said. "To go from not even being able to walk to being in the big leagues is something special."
Clearly, his Pirates teammates feel the same way.
Outfielder Jason Bay, pushed by a massive, get-out-the-vote drive begun by the Pirates after he hit 12 homers in May, will be the team's first All-Star starter in 13 years. But when he rushed to call his wife the good news, he first told her about Sanchez.
"Honestly, I was more thrilled for Freddy," Bay said. "I've said it for weeks, he's the most deserving player in this clubhouse. I was worried that if I got voted in, it would hurt his chances of making the team."
Sanchez's path to the majors was a winding, circuitous one even after his foot was repaired. He played at traditionally weak Burbank High near Los Angeles, then at a junior college and two NAIA schools before getting a $1,000 bonus to sign with the Red Sox as an 11th-round draft pick in 2000.
Traded from Red Sox to Pirates
Sanchez was traded by Boston to the Pirates in the Jeff Suppan deal in 2003, only to injure his ankle in his first game with a Pirates farm club. He missed the rest of that season, then spent the next two-plus seasons trying to find a way into the Pittsburgh lineup.
He hit .291 in 132 games last season, but he had only five homers in 453 at-bats. That lack of power for a corner infielder led general manager Dave Littlefield to sign Joe Randa to a $4 million contract to play third base this season.
But Sanchez hit no matter where manager Jim Tracy played him early this year and, when Randa bruised his foot in early May, Sanchez seized the opportunity to play.
"One of the things I wanted to do was force their hand so they had to get me into the lineup," Sanchez said.
Sanchez is very popular in Pittsburgh, as evidenced by his 856,685 write-in votes for the All-Star game. With 13 multihit games since June 1, he's also gained the respect of opposing managers.
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