Rookies, former top prospects impress future-minded Marlins in first week since trades
Braxton Garrett pounded his left fist into his glove and screamed while Jorge Alfaro made an easy throw to first base, and Garrett strutted back to the Miami Marlins’ dugout. His slider had befuddled Javier Baez and got the superstar to strike out for the third time Thursday to end the top of the fifth inning.
It had been a thoroughly unusual 24th-birthday celebration for the starting pitcher — he wriggled out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first, and worked around five hits and four walks in five shutout innings — and he was headed back into the clubhouse with a lead against the first-place New York Mets. It was enough to put the Marlins in position for victory — they won 4-2 after Jorge Alfaro and Lewis Brinson led a three-run eighth inning — and it was another reason for future optimism at the end of Miami’s first homestand since the trade deadline.
“I just try to take deep breaths, keeping making pitches and putting them in good spots,” Garrett said. “I’m not necessarily a strikeout guy.”
Rookie Braxton Garrett comes through
Garrett began the day by getting called up for the fifth time this season. It was the perfect birthday gift for the up-and-down rookie, who has now made four starts in the Majors this season and 11 for Triple A Jacksonville, and it was a chance to make another impression on general manager Kim Ng, CEO Derek Jeter and all the other decision-makers within the organization as they try to figure out how to get the Marlins (47-62) back to playoff contention in 2022.
It was an unusual one to judge. He didn’t allow a run and left with a 1-0 lead, but he also gave up five hits, walked four, allowed a baserunner in every inning and used six well-timed strikeouts to survive.
In the first inning, the first batter of the game legged out an infield single on a ground ball to third, the second batter walked to first base on five pitches and the third loaded the bases with a single to shallow right field. Garrett’s margin for error, in his first MLB start in nearly two weeks, was gone, so he loaded up and tried to string together a perfect three-batter sequence.
It started with a five-pitch strikeout to J.D. Davis, getting the Mets’ slugging third baseman to swing over an 85-mph changeup. It continued with a three-pitch strikeout of Baez, getting the shortstop to swing over a 90-mph sinker. Against Michael Conforto, Garrett was in trouble again, down 3-1 in the count against the New York outfielder, yet it didn’t deter the left-handed pitcher. He tried to be perfect again, painted the bottom of the strike zone with a fastball and got Conforto to fly out to center field to end the frame.
“When you see young guys go out there and have these type of starts. And they’re able to navigate through trouble, and go in there and make pitches when they need to ... I get excited by these more,” said hitting coach James Rowson, who’s serving as the interim manager after Don Mattingly tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. “I know we love when a guy goes out there and you see a huge strikeout number, and nobody can touch them — that’s great when they can do that, but it’s also just as exciting to me when they go and show that they can get out of trouble.”
In the next three innings, Garrett worked around one one-out single and two one-out walks to make it to the fifth without much trouble, and then he got two outs outs on four pitches to start the fifth before The Mets (56-62) gave him one last challenge. New York slugger Dominic Smith singled to left, Davis walked and Baez returned to the plate with a chance to at least tie the game.
Garrett went down and in five straight times and Baez worked a full count to force the starter to finally throw him something over the plate. Twice Garrett had fooled him with his sinker, so he unfurled a slider for only the 10th time in the game and got Baez to swing over it once again.
The five shutout innings lowered Garrett’s ERA from 4.37 to 3.58 and his ERA in five starts this year is now 2.92, with his overall mark inflated by one ugly relief appearance back in May.
Garrett, who was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2016 MLB draft and is still the organization’s No. 7 prospect in MLB.com’s rankings, is keeping himself in Miami’s future plans and, if this first homestand after the trade deadline is an indication, the Marlins are ready to take a look at as many young players as possible.
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Brinson, Alfaro deliver in clutch
On Friday, any illusions of contention finally vanished for Miami. The Marlins traded away outfielders Starling Marte and Adam Duvall, and relief pitchers Yimi Garcia and John Curtiss ahead of the deadline, officially turning their attention toward the future.
In seven games since, Miami has started six different pitchers, all either rookies or 25 and younger. The Marlins had outfielder Bryan De La Cruz make his MLB debut Friday and start all seven games, started rookie newcomer Alex Jackson at catcher three times and asked Alfaro to make his first career appearance in the outfield Tuesday.
Seeing rookies — like Garrett, De La Cruz, Jackson, Trevor Rogers, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jesus Sanchez — is important, but their careers won’t be made or broken by what happens in the final two months of the year. Decisions will have to made sooner on the class of former top prospects who have underwhelmed so far in their still-young careers.
On Thursday, Rowson put two of those players in an important spot. Alfaro batted third and Brinson fourth, and, in the eighth inning, they came to the plate in the most important moment.
With one out in a 1-1 game, Alfaro knocked a go-ahead single to center to put the and Brinson, who was once the No. 16 prospect in baseball and still only 27, followed with a 107.3-mph double to put the Marlins ahead 4-1, igniting the crowd of 9,745 at loanDepot park.
A few minutes later, Miami celebrated after rookie relief pitcher Anthony Bender navigated a wonky ninth inning for his second career save.
There are no more stopgaps in South Florida. Almost everyone on the field is now potentially part of what the Marlins are trying to build for next season and beyond. It makes wins like this one invigorating for Miami.
“That eighth inning,” Rowson said, “was fun.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 3:49 PM.
