Why Mattingly has liked Wallach over Alfaro at catcher. And more Marlins lineup updates
Marlins manager Don Mattingly planned to keep riding the hot hand when it came to his starting catching.
The reason?
They’re winning with Chad Wallach.
The Marlins are 8-2 during the past 10 games in which Wallach starts, including their 5-1 victory in Game 1 on Wednesday.
Marlins starters have a 2.81 ERA during that span with 49 strikeouts and 19 walks through 51 1/3 innings.
It’s a 2.77 ERA during Wallach’s past 11 starts. And if you add Daniel Castano’s 6 1/3 innings of relief against the Yankees this past Sunday, the group has a 2.50 ERA.
Miami has lost Alfaro’s past four starts and five of his past six.
“The main thing is just our pitchers have been on a roll with him,” Mattingly said about Wallach. “He’s been doing a great job with those guys. We’ve kind of prioritized that end of it over the offense. We know Jorge has the capabilities of doing some big things offensively, but in this setting, we felt like we wanted to prioritize the way Chad handles the pitching staff.”
Both catchers were among the 18 players sidelined early in the season due to COVID-19.
Alfaro, who hit three home runs in the regular season, is clearly the better power bat among the two. But Wallach hit a point better (.227) than Alfaro (.226) during the regular season, and hit one home run with six RBI and a .640 OPS.
In Wallach’s past seven starts in the regular season, he hit .320 with hits in five of those games. That includes multihit games in wins over the Braves and Yankees. Wallach also singled in the seventh inning in Game 1 to give the Marlins two runners on with one out setting up Corey Dickerson’s go-ahead home run.
Alfaro’s 36 percent strikeout rate is also up from last season’s 33.1 percent mark and close to his 36.6 percent in 2018 — which both ranked in the bottom 2 percent of the majors, according to Statcast.
And while neither catcher ranks among the game’s elite in terms of pitch framing, Wallach ranks higher according to Statcast. Wallach’s 46.3 percent strike rate, which rates the called strike percentage of all pitches where hitters don’t swing, ranks 46th among 61 catchers. Alfaro’s 41.7 percent ranks last.
More lineup updates
A few more lineup observations:
▪ Magneuris Sierra was slated to start in center field Thursday before the game was postponed while Starling Marte continues to get treatment on his left hand after being hit by a pitch Wednesday. Marte was diagnosed with a small nondisplaced fracture in the fifth metacarpal of his left hand, which is the base of the bone between the pinkie and the wrist. He was fitted for a protective brace and is receiving treatment.
The Marlins have multiple options to replace Marte in center field, including Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison and Jon Berti. Mattingly chose Sierra for his speed element and to have an extra left-handed bat in the lineup against the Cubs’ Yu Darvish.
As for Marte, Mattingly said the team continues to view him as day-to-day.
“We’ll see,” Mattingly said. “... We’re looking at it as something that there is the possibility of him getting back in fairly quickly. We’ll just kind of play that by ear and they’ll keep treating him.”
▪ Garrett Cooper was slated to start at first base for the second consecutive playoff game against the Cubs, while Jesus Aguilar has been the designated hitter.
“I just felt like it’s been best for us,” Mattingly said. “And for the most part during the season, I was going back and forth, just to make sure both guys were rested all the time. We had a couple days off and I felt like in this playoff scenario, Coop maybe had a touch more range than Aggy. I trust both guys with their hands at first.”
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