Trevor Rogers had his worst start of 2021, but Marlins were still impressed. Here’s why
Trevor Rogers knew right from the start all was not right.
The star starting pitcher is 6-foot-5 and 217 pounds, all arms and legs, and this particular combination of physical attributes can lead to problems. He felt them pretty much right away in the Miami Marlins’ 3-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
“When he gets just a touch out of sync,” manager Don Mattingly said, “it’s not quite the sharpness.”
It made the first inning an adventure for the 23-year-old rookie. He gave up a one-out single to star shortstop Bo Bichette, then walked superstar corner infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on four pitches. Rogers, who gave up one run or fewer in nine of his first 14 starts this year, was stuck in a 2-0 deficit before he even got a second out in the first inning. Blue Jays outfielders Teoscar Hernandez and George Springer both connected for one-out hits, and Rogers needed 20 innings to finally escape his first inning since June 15.
With the Marlins’ offense in dire straits, the 2-0 hole was too deep to climb out of, but Rogers did all he could to make sure Miami (31-42) had a chance at a comeback. He got through the next four innings unscathed, then gave up one more run in the top of the fifth before exiting after 83 pitches to let a pinch hitter enter the game.
It was, on paper, perhaps Rogers’ worst start of 2021 MLB season. The three earned runs matched a season high and the five innings of work were his fewest in nearly a month. Even Rogers’ worst starts, though, are good and this one was promising in different ways.
“He was just a touch out of sync early on and then all of a sudden you see him find that groove, and, yeah, I thought it was pretty much what Trevor does right there,” Mattingly said. “The adjustments are the things that are the things that are just going to continue to get better all the time, a kid that’s going to be able to call his own game, knows what he wants to do and be able to feel the things that we talk about.”
Rogers called out his own mechanical kinks and fixed them by the time the first inning was over. He knows his hand movement and leg shift have to be in sync, and he knew they weren’t in the first inning Wednesday. He thought back to any one of countless bullpen sessions with Mel Stottlemyre Jr., when the pitching coach would point out his particular hitch and give Rogers a fix, and Rogers implemented it himself.
Rogers worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, then cruised through a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth. After he issued first-pitch balls to seven of the first 12 batters he faced, he only had three first-pitch balls in the last three innings.
The left-handed pitcher, however, felt OK with his fastball command, even though he threw his fewest percentage of four-seam fastballs all year. This was another promising sign: Toronto (37-35) studied the scouting report, Rogers assumed, and knew he liked to attack with high fastballs. To keep the Marlins within striking distance in Miami, Rogers adjusted to the Blue Jays’ adjustment.
Rogers (7-4) threw his fastball less than 50 percent of the time for the first time all year. He threw his slider a season-high 31 percent of the time. Ultimately, he allowed five hits and two walks, and struck out six in front of 6,164 at loanDepot park.
“They saw a scouting report and they saw that I go fastball up a lot, so I think they were looking for that,” Rogers said. “With that being said, you’ve got to change the game plan, really switch things up and go secondary stuff.”
When Rogers left, Miami was down 3-0 and flailing against Toronto starting pitcher Robbie Ray. The Marlins managed just four hits against Ray (5-3) and scored their only run on a solo home run by outfielder Starling Marte to start the bottom of the sixth.
Rogers continues to put together an impeccable resume for a rookie. He’s the clear frontrunner for the National League Rookie of the Year and the obvious favorite to be Miami’s lone All-Star. At this point, the Marlins’ worst days are even further affirmation of it.
Jesus Sanchez’s promising exit velocity
After belting his second home run of the season in the Marlins’ 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Tuesday, outfielder Jesus Sanchez kept making hard contact Wednesday, ripping a 101.3-mph lineout to left field in the fourth inning.
The lineout gave the rookie outfielder seven straight batted balls with at least a 90-mph exit velocity and three of those topped 100 mph.
After going hitless in his season debut, Sanchez collected hits in five straights and had a .720 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, entering Wednesday.
It’s a massive step after his rocky debut in the 2020 MLB season. Sanchez, pressed into duty because of Miami’s COVID-19 issues last year, batted .040 in 10 games.
“His demeanor, I think, has been better,” manager Don Mattingly said. “He started off even a little slow this time. You always see guys come up totally confident, bouncing around, but he didn’t seem to panic over a couple games where it didn’t really fall his way. He was hitting some balls hard, he wasn’t getting hits. Everything looked the same. I think that’s the biggest. I hate to use the word maturity because he’s always been, I feel like, mature in the way he was going about it, but just a little bit more experience, a little bit more of knowing what to expect. He’ll still have his patches, but I think he looks a lot better this year.
“Last year was tough on him and he learned from it. We talked about it with Trevor last year: He wasn’t great last year. He had some good stretches and did some things good, but they learned a lot from that.”
Garrett Cooper begins rehab assignment
The Marlins lineup could get a boost by the end of the week.
Garrett Cooper began a rehab assignment with Triple A Jacksonville on Wednesday, putting him on track to potentially return sometime during Miami’s upcoming four-game series against Washington later this week.
The slugger has been on the 10-day injured list since June 9 with a lumbar strain after he batted .248 with a .720 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 52 games. With fellow outfielder Corey Dickerson likely out for at least another month, Cooper could have a path to consistent playing time in a corner outfield spot, potentially platooning with Sanchez.
Up next
The Marlins open up a four-game series against the Nationals on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. in Miami.
Washington pitcher Joe Ross is slated to start for the Nationals (35-36) on Thursday and star starting pitcher Max Scherzer is in line to pitch the series finale Sunday. Starting pitcher Cody Poteet will pitch Game 1 for the Marlins.
This story was originally published June 23, 2021 at 10:29 PM.
