Why the Marlins chose Elieser Hernandez over Yamamoto and some practice observations
Two moves over the past 24 hours essentially show the Miami Marlins’ starting pitching rotation appears to be set. The order will be official in the next couple days.
With the team optioning Jordan Yamamoto to their alternate training site in Jupiter Friday night and using both Nick Neidert and Robert Dugger in bullpen roles during Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage, the final spot in the five-person rotation seems to belong to Elieser Hernandez.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly on Saturday said Hernandez and Yamamoto were “pretty much neck and neck in everything they were doing” since practices resumed. However...
“We just felt like Elieser was a tick ahead of [Yamamoto] physically at this moment, coming out of the break and everything else,” Mattingly continued. “It was more about that.”
Should things hold, Hernandez is set to join a rotation that includes Sandy Alcantara, Caleb Smith, Jose Urena and Pablo Lopez. Mattingly on Saturday did not disclose the order of the rotation as he said they still had one person to inform of his specific spot in the rotation, but it’s shaping up to look as listed above. Mattingly said he anticipates Urena starting the first of two exhibition games against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, which would line him up for the third game of the season. No starter was named for the Wednesday exhibition game.
As for Yamamoto, who’s style of pitching projects more as a starter than a reliever, Mattingly said the Marlins considered using him out of the bullpen, “but we didn’t feel like that was the best thing for him.”
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Practice observations
▪ First baseman prospect Lewin Diaz was hit on the right hand/wrist by a pitch inside by left-handed pitcher prospect Alex Vesia in the first inning of Saturday’s scrimmage at Marlins Park. Diaz was looked at by a team trainer and removed from the game as a precaution to test his range of motion. Diaz returned to the dugout after the tests.
▪ It was a bullpen day on the mound, with a dozen relievers taking the mound. The 12: Nick Vincent, Adam Conley Brandon Kintzler, Jorge Guzman, Sterling Sharp, Dugger, Vesia, Brad Boxberger, Aaron Northcraft, Josh A Smith, Neidert and Ryan Cook.
Outside of Neidert and Dugger, who each threw four innings to close out the scrimmage, no pitcher went longer than an inning each.
▪ Outfielder prospect Monte Harrison, still a candidate to crack the Opening Day roster, hit a three-run home run to straightaway center field off non-roster invitee Cook. It ended a stretch of at least two days worth of scrimmages without a hit for Harrison.
▪ Utility infielder Eddy Alvarez also homered on Saturday, sending a pitch from Neidert into the grass just beyond the center-field wall. Alvarez, a non-roster invitee, has been steady at the plate during these two weeks of workouts.
▪ Middle infielder prospect Jose Devers, in camp at Marlins Park the past few days after starting in Jupiter, hit a triple off Neidert. Devers looked steady defensively at shortstop and second base during the past two scrimmages as well.
▪ Corey Dickerson and Jesus Aguilar, the Marlins’ projected Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, continued their strong run at the plate.
This and that
▪ Outfielder Lewis Brinson, on the 10-day Injured List for unspecified reasons, reported to the Marlins’ alternate training site in Jupiter on Saturday. It marked the first day he was at team practice.
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