Marlins hope ‘continuity’ between pitchers & coach results in improvement on the mound
Mel Stottlemyre Jr. knew the challenge he had ahead of him last season.
He had a young, impressionable pitching staff to work with and was in his first season as the Miami Marlins’ pitching coach.
He tried to walk a fine line early, balancing the acts of earning players’ respect while making sure he was maximizing their talent through what was going to be a rough second season in the team’s latest rebuild.
“You come in as the new guy and you spend a lot of time giving players information and really trying to earn their trust. That takes time,” Stottlemyre said. “It was a young staff, and I asked a lot of them. There was a lot of change that they went through, a lot of newness that went through for all of us.”
It’s a slightly different story this year. Stottlemyre is back for his second season with the Marlins. The trust he had to gain last year is already established.
The goal now is for the Marlins’ pitching staff to step up.
“The continuity of Mel is good for us,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said.
There were bright spots last season — namely Caleb Smith’s start to the season and Sandy Alcantara’s final 10 games — but they were ultimately masked by overall struggles as the 162-game season wore on.
The Marlins’ starting rotation was among Major League Baseball’s best at the All-Star Break last season, ranking second in the National League East, fourth in the NL and seventh in MLB with a collective 3.96 ERA. Trades and injuries hampered the group down the stretch, and Miami starters finished 16th overall with a 4.59 team ERA.
The bullpen’s 4.97 ERA was the fifth worst in baseball.
“We know what we did last year was not good enough,” Stottlemyre said. “We have to be better.”
Stottlemyre will be at the center of that development.
He already sees more willingness from his pitchers to accept his insights and test out changes over the next five weeks of spring training.
And he knows how to individualize his approach with each pitcher.
Two contrasting examples: Alcantara and Jordan Yamamoto.
Alcantara evolved into the Marlins’ ace last season, finishing the season with a 3.88 ERA and starting 32 games. But he was inconsistent over the first six weeks, tentative at times and nibbling at the strike zone instead of using his five-pitch mix highlighted by a 95-plus mph fastball and sinker to his advantage.
The 6-5, 197-pound righty responded, and finished the season with a 2.73 ERA (21 earned runs in 69 1/3 innings) over his final 10 starts of the season. Alcantara struck out 58 batters while walking just 18 in that stretch. He had seven quality starts, defined as giving up no more than three earned runs while pitching at least six innings.
“He taught me how to attack hitters, up, down,” Alcantara said. “The thing he told me ‘Go get that strikeout.’ “
While Alcantara’s main adjustment was mental, Yamamoto’s was physical.
He hit a rough patch to close out the season, at one point giving up four or more earned runs in six of seven starts. Trying to figure out a solution, Yamamoto and Stottlemyre made an adjustment to his arm path, a small adjustment that Yamamoto thinks will help long-term.
“He’s a guy to kick me in the butt to keep me on track and keep me going to really perform for my next outing,” said Yamamoto, who will start the Marlins’ Grapefruit League opener against the New York Mets on Saturday to begin their 31-game spring training schedule.
For reliever Jeff Brigham, Stottlemyre gave him a confidence boost through something as simple as a phone call. The Marlins overhauled their bullpen this offseason, acquiring four new relief pitchers in Brandon Kintzler, Yimi Garcia, Sterling Sharp and Stephen Tarpley.
Brigham, meanwhile, is one of four relievers left from last season’s roster who is in spring training.
“Stot was in my ear a lot this offseason. Every time a move happened, I would get a phone call from him,” Brigham said. “Just checking in to see how I was doing. That made me feel like I was going to be an important part of this team and have an opportunity to help this team out.”
Pitchers appreciate how approachable Stottlemyre is, as well.
“He’s always goofing around and clowning around 90 percent of the time,” Brigham said. “But when that 10 percent comes, he gets you to lock it in.”
The time to start locking in has arrived with spring training games beginning and the season opener five weeks away.
And Stottlemyre is ready for the second phase of his job helping a pitching staff come into its own.
“They’re more comfortable when I get up in a room now,” Stottlemyre said. “... Their willingness and their trust in me is so much farther forward because of the year that we had together.”
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