Orlando Sanchez was signed as an amateur undrafted free agent by the New York Mets. He made his professional debut as a 17 year old for the Marion Mets of the Appalachian League. In the year, Sanchez batted.206 over the course of 23 games. At the end of the 1975 season, Sanchez was released by the Mets, and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in spring training the following year. Sanchez would spend the next few season playing in the minor league system for the Phillies. It wasn't until 1979 that Sanchez made it as far as Triple A, playing for the Phillies affiliate the Oklahoma City 89ers. Sanchez appeared in a handful of games, and had his best season in 1980, batting.306. However, the power hitting he enjoyed on the lower levels of minor league baseball did not follow him to triple-A. While playing in the Phillies system, he was pressed into service as a pitcher for the Pulaski Phillies. Sanchez surrendered a home run and ended up with a 27.00 E.R.A. With Philadelphia, Sanchez was stuck without much hope of getting promoted to the big league club, especially since they had multi-time All-star Bob Boone as their starting catcher. When the Rule 5 draft came around the following winter, the Phillies left Sanchez exposed and he was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals. Sanchez made his MLB debut on May 6th, 1981 against the Atlanta Braves. He was a late inning defensive replacement for Darrell Porter. He made only one plate appearance, that against Gaylord Perry, and grounded out to second. Over the course of the next couple of seasons, Sanchez would split his time from being Porter's back-up, to playing in the minors. At the end of the 1983 season, the Cardinals left Sanchez exposed and he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the Rule 5 draft. He only appeared in 10 games before his contract was purchased by the Baltimore Orioles. Sanchez split the rest of the season between Baltimore and their Triple-A team, the Rochester Red Wings. he appeared in 74 games for Rochester, batting.305 Despite this, Sanchez was released by Baltimore at the end of the season and later signed with the Cleveland Indians and played for their Triple A team in Maine. After appearing in just 12 games for Maine, Sanchez was released. After being cut by Cleveland, Sanchez signed with Puebla Angeles of the Mexican League. Sanchez would play eight more seasons of pro ball in Mexico, before retiring in 1993 after spending the season with the Monterrey Industriales.
Managerial career
In 2006, Sanchez was named as the manager for the Vaqueros Laguna. The team finished 50-59. The next season Sanchez was the manager of the Olmecas de Tabasco, whom he led to a record of 56-54. In 2009, he was named the manager of Saraperos de Saltillo, with whom he'd manage the next few seasons. He led the team to a 59-48 record in his first year at the helm. However, in 2011, he had the worst season of his career, and was fired mid-way through the season with a record of 36-50. He was replaced by Noe Munoz. Over the course of the next two seasons he managed the Acereros de Monclova and Vaqueros Laguna before returning to Saltillo in 2017. He currently has a record of 660 wins and 675 losses in his managerial career.
