After a two-year journey, a return to the mound for a new Miami Marlins reliever
He stepped onto the mound in the eighth inning Wednesday and felt the juxtaposing feelings of relief and adrenaline.
Almost two years in the making, he was back.
“Now pitching for the Marlins, No. 56, Zach Pop.”
Pop, a 24-year-old right-handed relief pitcher from Ontario, Canada, had been through quite a journey during the past 23 months.
Tommy John surgery. Rehab through a global pandemic. Being selected in the Rule 5 Draft by one team (the Arizona Diamondbacks) only to be subsequently traded by another team (the Marlins).
And then Wednesday, his first opportunity to show that he is, indeed, back.
Pop worked a scoreless eighth inning in the Marlins’ 4-4 tie in a spring training game against the Houston Astros at Jupiter’s Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. It was his first outing in a competitive game since April 30, 2019.
“It was a lot of trying to manage emotions on the mound,” Pop said “Trying to manage that excitement. Trying to manage those feelings that you don’t get in a live BP. The adrenaline that came back and knowing we’ve got to make pitches and we’ve got to get people out. It’s not just about pitch development. It’s not just about having having a good side [session], feeling, working on something. It’s about actually getting people out, trying to navigate through that and navigate through what you’re trying to feel on the mound emotionally.”
And Pop navigated through it even if his command was a bit shaky early.
He walked Abraham Toro on seven pitches to lead off the inning before settling in.
The final three batters he faced: Robel Garcia struck out looking at a 95.3 mph two-seam fastball, Korey Lee grounded out to shortstop Jose Devers and Jake Meyers grounded out to third baseman Jon Berti.
Pop, who has a two-pitch mix of a two-seam fastball and slider, threw 21 pitches, 11 for strikes. The fastball topped out at 96.7 mph. The slider averaged 84 mph. Five of his 11 strikes were either called strikes or swings and misses.
“Pretty good,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “The ball came out of his hand and obviously sprayed a little bit, but it looked like he had a good breaking ball that looked like it got out of his hand really well. I though it was pretty good for as long as he’s been out.”
Pop’s challenge now: Finding a way to get on the roster. As a player with Rule 5 restrictions must remain on a team’s active roster for the duration of the season or they are sent back to their original club.
He profiles as a potential late-inning reliever, and he played the part in the minor leagues. Pop has a career 1.34 ERA over 57 minor-league games. That included a 0.84 mark with 11 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings at the Double A level in 2019 before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
“The combination of velocity and late movement gives Pop the ability to generate ground balls at an elite rate — his 65.8 percent ground-ball rate in 2018 was the sixth-best mark among minor-league hurlers [60 IP min.] — while also missing a healthy number of bats,” reads his scouting report from MLBPipeline. “His hard slider in the mid- to upper-80s is a plus pitch, albeit one that stands out more for its velocity than its sharpness. Pop’s sinker-slider pairing makes him lethal against right-handed hitters, whom he limited to a paltry .162/.243/.200 batting line in ‘18.
“Pop has the pure stuff needed to carve out a late-inning role in the big leagues, perhaps even as a closer if he can further improve the action on his slider and refine his command.”
Even with the Rule 5 restrictions, Pop isn’t putting extra pressure on himself.
“For me,” Pop said, “it’s just about doing what I do best and try to do that all the time because I know I can do that. Most of the time I’m going to have real good success here. I know that I have good stuff. I know that I can play. I know that I can do all this stuff. It’s just a matter of repeating everything consistently. And that’s what the guys at the highest level do they repeat the mechanics that they do day in and day out. I just have to keep focusing on that goal.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 10:06 AM.
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