A change was made to the Marlins’ pitching rotation this week. More changes on the way?
With just two months remaining in the regular season, some change is in store for the Miami Marlins’ starting rotation.
Marlins starters overall went into the All-Star break with a collective 3.06 ERA, which ranked fourth in the National League. In the 13 games since, the collective ERA is 4.67 entering Saturday’s matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Marlins Park.
Those recent struggles paired with young prospects vying for a starting opportunity and an established starter soon returning from an injury has forced changes and is expected to force more change in the coming weeks.
One of the switches came Friday, as Marlins manager Don Mattingly announced that Trevor Richards, 26, has been moved to a bullpen role and Elieser Hernandez, 24, will start in his place Sunday against the Diamondbacks.
The decision came with Richards stuck in a rough patch. The Marlins have lost in each of Richards’ past eight starts, and he has posted a 0-7 record (one no-decision) and a 6.33 ERA in 43 2/3 innings during that eight-start span.
“It’s more about Elieser than Trevor,” Mattingly said. “When we put Elieser in the [bullpren], we knew we wanted it to be short-term. We didn’t want his arm getting to the point where he didn’t feel good about starting.
“Trevor obviously has struggled a little bit lately. He has a chance to get a little bit of a rest and a chance to see what he looks like out of the ‘pen. We know as an organization that we just keep compiling starters who are getting closer and closer to the big leagues. There’s been talks early on that this guy [Richards] could be a really good bullpen guy. I think it’s time right now, again with the combination of Elieser again, to see what that looks like.”
Richards, whose last relief appearance came in the minors in June 2017, made his Marlins bullpen debut late in Friday’s 3-2 walk-off win over the Diamondbacks. The righty pitched a scoreless eighth inning, allowing one hit and striking out two to keep the Marlins within one run and set up the comeback victory.
“I didn’t really want to put him in there the first time like that, honestly, but he felt like the right guy for that,” Mattingly said of using Richards on Friday. “That was kind of what we want to see. We want to see him be aggressive. You don’t get a lot of looks like him. With that changeup, it adds to his fastball and you’re not getting three looks. You’re getting one time through the order.”
One clear advantage for Richards that comes with working out of the bullpen is batters have less time to figure his stuff out, which has been an issue for him this season.
The first time through the order, Richards has a 2.76 ERA with a .235 batting average against. Its gets worse from there, as he has a 3.86 ERA and .216 batting average against the second time around and a 9.67 ERA and .340 batting average against the third time around.
“I’m just going at it as a bullpen guy,” Richards said of the adjustment. “Just attack with my stuff, which over the course of the year I’ve been focusing on trying to develop other things. Now out of the bullpen when I’m throwing an inning, I can dial it in and just compete. Whenever I’m out there, I like to just compete and not really think about mechanics or pitches or anything like that.”
Richards’ primary pitches are the fastball and changeup. He’s worked to add a curveball and cutter this year, but the results have been mixed.
In a relief role, Richards doesn’t have to worry about introducing different pitches later in games to keep batters off balance. He can attack with his two best pitches because he’ll rarely face batters more than once, as he did Friday with fastballs and changeups (12 fastballs and six changeups) making up each of his 18 pitches in his one-inning appearance.
“He just said to take it as a positive,” Richards said of his conversation with Mattingly regarding his new role. “Just go in there and do your best and just keep attacking hitters. He’s seen my starts. Over the course of the year, it’s been two, three pitches the whole game that have cost me multiple runs. So it’s just eliminating those and going at it one inning at a time and attacking hitters.”
With Hernandez replacing Richards, the Marlins’ starting rotation now includes Jordan Yamamoto, Caleb Smith, Zac Gallen, Sandy Alcantara and Hernandez.
But there is at least one more rotation change coming, with Pablo Lopez set to begin a rehab assignment Sunday with the organization’s Double A affiliate, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Lopez, 23, has been on the injured list since June with a right shoulder strain.
Mattingly made it clear that Lopez, who is 5-5 with a 4.23 ERA this season, will be a starter when he returns. The rehab assignment is expected to include three to four starts.
So whose spot will Lopez take in the rotation when he returns?
“Usually, those problems will work themselves out some way or another,” Mattingly said. “I don’t want to work that out now. He’s a few outings away.”
With a lot of starting pitching talent still on the Marlins’ minor-league teams, more of those tough decisions are sure to follow.
“It’s going to be trying to put the best group of pitchers together to endure a season and give us the best chance of success,” Mattingly said.
This story was originally published July 27, 2019 at 4:18 PM.
