The Marlins’ roster turnover led to two unlikely MLB debuts. They took full advantage
Brian Navarreto couldn’t sleep Saturday night. After seven years of toiling in the minor leagues, the catcher’s opportunity to make his Major League Baseball debut was finally on the horizon.
Brandon Leibrandt’s opportunity to make his debut could have happened at any point during the past week. The Miami Marlins selected his contract from the Somerset Patriots, an independent baseball team in the Atlantic League, on Aug. 10 and added him to their roster on Aug. 18. He spent his first five days on the big-league club waiting in the bullpen, no call in sight.
Their debuts, which would have been unlikely at best under normal circumstances, intersected Sunday, and both played valuable roles for the Marlins even in a 9-3 loss to the Washington Nationals.
Navarreto recorded two hits and caught all nine innings for a Marlins team that quickly saw its catching depth disintegrate. Leibrandt, the son of one-time World Series champion Charlie Leibrandt, tossed four scoreless innings to finish the game and preserve a bullpen that had five players unavailable after Saturday’s doubleheader.
They were the 12th and 13th Marlins players to make their MLB debuts this season. While their first big-league appearances weren’t as heralded as the ones made by Marlins top prospects such as Sixto Sanchez, Jesus Sanchez, Lewin Diaz and Monte Harrison, they were meaningful in their own right.
Navaretto and Leibrandt took advantage of the slimmest of opportunities, knowing full well this opportunity would have been unlikely at best under normal circumstances, and showed they can compete at the highest stage of the sport when finally given the chance.
‘I never quit’
Navarreto started and batted ninth despite being at best the Marlins’ No. 5 catcher to begin the season. Jorge Alfaro, recently returning from his stint on the COVID-19 IL, was unavailable after catching 12 of 14 innings during Saturday’s doubleheader. Francisco Cervelli is on the injured list after being diagnosed with a concussion during the second game Saturday. Chad Wallach is still on the COVID-19 IL. Ryan Lavarnway is going through waivers after being designated for assignment before the series.
Navarreto, a former sixth-round pick by the Minnesota Twins who never played above Double A and signed a minor-league deal with the Marlins this offseason, never lost sight of the ultimate goal. He wasn’t going to let the chance be wasted.
He recorded his first hit in the sixth inning, a line-drive single to center field. That ball, he said, is going to his mom’s house, where she has a “museum” of all his accomplishments from the minor leagues. He followed up with a second hit in the eighth.
“I never quit,” Navaretto said. “I’m still working hard and will always keep working because you never know what’s going to happen. You know about today, not about tomorrow, so there’s always something you can do for today to get better.”
‘The adrenaline is still going’
Leibrandt, meanwhile, was tasked with a mop-up role in his debut. The Nationals were up 9-1 when he entered with Carter Kieboom on third and no outs in the fifth, and the Marlins were running out of relievers. The Marlins hoped Leibrandt would give them as many innings as possible to save a taxed bullpen from using any more arms and give the Marlins options in Monday’s series finale.
He walked Adam Eaton on five pitches before striking out Juan Soto with an 82.3 mph changeup and getting Howie Kendrick to ground into a double play to strand two runners and end the inning.
Eric Thames’ leadoff single in the sixth was the final baserunner Leibrandt allowed. The 27-year-old recorded nine consecutive outs to conclude his MLB debut. He threw 55 pitches, 37 of which went for strikes.
“The adrenaline is still going,” Leibrandt said after the game. “I have yet to come down and reflect. I was just happy to help the team and save some arms.”
He was added to the Marlins’ bullpen to serve as a long-relief pitcher, which the Marlins were lacking with 11 pitchers sidelined due to COVID-19, including eight of the team’s original 12 relievers. He was built up as a starter for five years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization before injury struck. Tommy John surgery in July 2018 derailed his trajectory to the majors. He was sidelined for all of 2019, cut in May 2020 and, on a whim, decided to try his luck in one of the few realms of independent baseball that was still going on during the coronavirus pandemic.
Enter the Somerset Professional Baseball Series, an ongoing two-team competition between the Somerset Patriots and the New Jersey Blasters. Leibrandt posted a 0.75 ERA through three starts, striking out 15 batters and walking five over 12 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .146 batting average.
“It was definitely trying,” Leibrandt said. “It was definitely ‘Where do we go next? What can we do to get seen with the whole pandemic going on and really no baseball?’ I was just trying to pitch coming off Tommy John. It had been a while since I’d been back out there on the mound and I just wanted to play some baseball again.”
Now, he’s playing in the big leagues.
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