He made his major league debut on March 31, and played in 35 games for the Marlins in 1998, pitching to a 4.47 earned run average (ERA) and 137 strikeouts.

He spent time between Chicago and the Triple-A Iowa Cubs in 2002, pitching to a 12.96 ERA over eight games for the major league club.

Sánchez was acquired by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2003–04 offseason, and spent 2004 with the major league club and the Triple-A Louisville Bats.

Shortly after his release from Cincinnati, Sánchez signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays organization, and was assigned to the Triple-A Syracuse SkyChiefs.

Sánchez next played for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan, for the remainder of the 2010 season.

[2] After his release from the CPBL, Sánchez signed with the York Revolution of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

[4] Sánchez's son Dorssys Paulino played in Cleveland's farm system as a left fielder and shortstop from 2012 to 2018.