Starter? Mentor? Psychologist? Marlins Cervelli wants an ‘identity of winning catchers’
Francisco Cervelli made his way to the middle of the Miami Marlins clubhouse on Thursday when his eyes locked with fellow catcher Jorge Alfaro.
The duo, who just minutes earlier finished their second spring training practice at the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex in Jupiter, shared a smile, and handshake as they briefly went their separate ways before ultimately reconvening at their lockers two stalls apart.
Over the next six weeks, the two will simultaneously be working together and competing against each other as they prepare for a 2020 season with diverging starting points.
Alfaro is heading into his second season as the Marlins’ everyday catcher, a power-hitter with a need to improve with his pitch recognition and behind the plate. Cervelli, who signed for $2 million this offseason, has 12 years of MLB experience and 714 career games under his belt.
The anticipation coming into spring training is that Cervelli will be the mentor to Alfaro, who played 130 games this year and wants to play more in 2020.
But Cervelli, hard-nosed and still with a desire to play on a regular basis, aims to use this next month and a half to show the Marlins he still has enough in the tank to be more than a backup.
“It’s all about actions,” Cervelli said. “If I do well, why not? Every day, I’m coming here and I’m grateful. Whatever the role is, I’ve got to embrace it and be happy about it. In my mind, I always know what I want. Just play hard.
“That word [backup] is not on my back. I only have ‘Cervelli’ on my back.”
The competition should fuel both players and, they hope, provide a spark to help the Marlins make noticeable improvement in Year 3 of their latest rebuild regardless of who is behind the plate.
“This is not about Alfaro or Cervelli. It’s about the team,” Cervelli said. “It’s about winning. We need to have an identity of winning catchers.”
Cervelli ‘the psychologist’
As a catcher, Cervelli’s responsibilities on the team involve more than just being a receiver behind home plate.
He needs to be a confidence booster, a mental gymnast, a calming presence. This is merely magnified by the young pitching staff the Marlins will field this season.
“I like to be the doctor, the psychologist,” Cervelli said. “It’s not fixing things. It’s making them believe that they’re here for a reason. That they’ve earned it. This is the big leagues. You don’t want to go down anymore. My job is to make them believe that everything in their arm is special and not lie to them. It’s real. If you’re here, it’s for real.”
His powers have been evident from the start of spring training. He caught bullpen sessions for pitchers Sandy Alcantara and Elieser Hernandez over his first two days in Jupiter.
Cervelli would shout feedback every two or three pitches, ranging from where he wants to see a pitch located or giving simple words of support.
“It’s amazing,” Alcantara said. “He’s one of those catchers that has a lot of years in the big leagues. I feel like I have somebody really important behind the plate. It helps with my confidence. It makes me know I have to make the pitch.”
Cervelli’s hope: Breeding confidence into the Marlins’ pitching staff will help unleash the untapped potential that was seen in spots during the 2019 season.
After all, the Marlins are essentially returning everyone from their starting rotation that went into the All-Star Break ranked second in the National League East, fourth in the NL and seventh in MLB with a collective 3.96 ERA before fading down the stretch.
“They’re super good. They’re just green,” Cervelli said. “That’s our job, to get everything out of them. The tools are there. They’re not different from other pitchers in the Major Leagues. Let’s make this happen.”
Cervelli’s ‘attitude and moxie’
Cervelli has had that upbeat, swing-for-the-fences mind set his whole career.
A dual citizen of Venezuela and Italy, Cervelli singed as an international free agent with the New York Yankees in 2003 and never looked back.
He made his MLB debut as a September call-up in 2008 and spent his next six seasons with the Yankees — all overlapping with Derek Jeter’s final seasons as a player.
He’s a two-time member of Italy’s World Baseball Classic team, has a career .269 batting average and played in at least 100 games in three of the past five seasons.
“I think it helps everyone,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “It helps our pitchers. It helps everyone around because Francisco’s a guy with a lot of energy but also a guy who’s willing to speak up and talk about things and how we’re going to go about our business. He brings a little bit of attitude and moxie to our club.”
He’s continuing to bring that moxie to Miami. Cervelli has quickly become a clubhouse favorite with his low-key swagger and approachable persona.
The 33-year-old also sees the promise in the Marlins’ rebuild that is being orchestrated by fellow former Yankees who he knew from the start of his professional baseball career.
“Well, first of all, I like what they’re doing,” Cervelli said. “The project is great. You know, I was with those guys for a long time. They were my teachers and everything. I know Derek came to this world to win. That’s all I know with him. The talent is amazing. The city is great. I feel like I’m everywhere in the world just in one city. This is great. This is going to be interesting.”
Cervelli the mentor
While Cervelli’s desire and passion are there, so is Alfaro and his will to improve upon an up-and-down first season with the Marlins.
Alfaro’s power at the plate was undeniable last season with his 18 home runs and 33 of his total 113 hits going for extra bases. Defensively, though, Alfaro has room to grow. He gave up the third-most passed balls (11) in MLB last season and his .989 fielding percentage was the fifth-worst in the league.
He also had a 38.4 percent swing-and-miss rate last season, which played a heavy hand in his 154 strikeouts.
But Alfaro put in time away from the field this offseason to show his commitment to improving in 2020. He dropped 15 pounds while working on his family’s 20-acre farm in Colombia and running track and field-style workouts.
“I knew I could work all offseason on my hitting and my defense,” Alfaro said. “But I knew that I had to be ready to compete, my body had to be ready to go every day.
“I had to take some weight off my knees, and that will help me save my legs.”
Having a veteran voice at his position will help, too.
“It’s nice to have him here,” Alfaro said. “He’s a guy with a lot of experience. Excited to learn about all that.”
Cervelli is ready to share what he knows as well, with the hope that it will help the Marlins as the season unfolds.
“The two things are different for me. They’re separate,” Cervelli said. “Whether you want to play or not, it has nothing to do with him. Through my career, I always had people teach me a lot of things, so I have to pass what I know on to him. His talent is above everyone. He’s amazing. No matter what, we’re going to share thoughts. We’re going to learn from each other and play hard.”
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