Sandy Alcantara, the Marlins’ 25-year-old ace, plans to double as a mentor in 2021
At 25 years old and heading into his third full Major League Baseball season, Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara is still in the early stages of his career in comparison to the rest of baseball.
But at 25 and heading into his third full major-league season, Alcantara is a seasoned veteran when compared to the rest of his fellow pitchers set to join him in Miami’s rotation.
With the Marlins fresh off their first playoff appearance in 17 years and pitching figuring to be the Marlins’ strong suit again, Alcantara figures heavily into Miami’s success.
But the next step in Alcantara’s development is going to take place when he’s not on the mound and firing fastballs that clock in above 96 mph.
“Be a leader,” Alcantara said Thursday, shortly after throwing his first bullpen session of spring training in Jupiter. “That’s what the Marlins are looking for from me. That’s what I want to do, too. There’s a lot of young guys coming behind me. They’re gonna follow me. I’ve got to keep doing the right thing and keep showing them they can be like me, too.”
That includes taking arguably the Marlins’ most-touted prospect under his wing.
Alcantara said he is planning to mentor pitcher prospect Sixto Sanchez, the consensus No. 1 prospect in the Marlins organization. Sanchez made his long-awaited MLB debut last year and flashed success early on before hitting a wall when he faced teams for the second or third time.
“I’ve got to take him in my pocket,” Alcantara said. “Show him how we do it here. Try to teach him what he can do to get him better because they want him to be in the big leagues for a long time. I’ve got to help him to be here.”
Manager Don Mattingly has not yet explicitly named his Opening Day starter for the Marlins’ April 1 game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Marlins Park — “I probably have a better idea this year than last,” the manager said Wednesday, “but I don’t know if we should give that away yet. Gotta save some kind of news” — but all signs would point to Alcantara getting the nod for a second consecutive year.
Alcantara, after all, is still the ace of this rotation, with Pablo Lopez and Elieser Hernandez expected to be the Nos. 2 and 3 after showing significant improvement in 2020. The progression of top prospect Sanchez makes him a likely candidate to be on the Opening Day roster in 2021, while a group of top prospects headlined by Trevor Rogers, Braxton Garrett, Nick Neidert and Edward Cabrera will compete for the fifth rotation spot.
The biggest area of growth for Alcantara to focus on: consistency.
The 25-year-old right-handed pitcher has dazzled at times during the past two seasons. He threw a pair of complete games during the 2019 season and posted a 2.73 ERA in the final 10 games that year en route to being named the Marlins’ 2020 Opening Day starter when the season finally began in late July. He came up in pivotal moments last season after returning from a bout with COVID-19, including throwing 7 1/3 innings in the Marlins’ win over the Yankees on Sept. 25 to secure their first playoff berth since 2003 and 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball in their first playoff game against the Chicago Cubs.
Alcantara said he has talked with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. toward the end of the offseason to make sure he was ready to go when he reported this week.
And Alcantara, ever-confident despite usually being a man of few words, said he’s ready for the season.
Even after pitching just 11 total games and 54 2/3 innings during the shortened 2020 season, his goal is to throw “200-plus” innings in 2021. He came close to the 200-inning mark in 2019, when he tossed 197 1/3 over 32 starts.
“The only thing we have to do is be healthy and take advantage of the opportunity,” Alcantara said. “Be outside. Pitch the most innings that you can and leave your 100 percent outside. ... It’s going to be a long season. 162 games is way different than last year when we got 60 games. It was a short season. We have to get our preparation here in spring training.”
▪ Three Marlins players expected to be at camp were not in Jupiter on Thrusday for the team’s first workout: relief pitcher Jeff Brigham (60-day IL; rehabbing on his own), catcher Santiago Chavez (delayed in Mexico) and starting pitcher Sixto Sanchez (delayed in the Dominican Republic). The team expects them in Jupiter on Friday to start their COVID-19 intake process, which would put them on the field at the start of next week if cleared.
Three additional players are also not working out with the team at moment following COVID-19 intake testing. Of those three, there was one positive test. The other two are due to contact tracing or other parameters in the league’s health and safety protocols.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 3:03 PM.
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