Breaking down Jorge Guzman’s 2021 debut and what the Marlins hope to see from him
The results were mixed, but Jorge Guzman’s demeanor was upbeat. The hard-throwing right-handed pitcher made his season debut on Monday, throwing the seventh inning of a blowout loss to the Atlanta Braves.
He struck out the side, but an infield single, a pair of walks and a two-run double before the third out hampered the outing.
“Things didn’t come out the way it should have,” said Guzman, the No. 26 overall prospect in the Marlins’ system according to MLB Pipeline who was acquired as part of the Giancarlo Stanton trade.
But Guzman is grateful for the chance to be back at the MLB level after an abbreviated debut during the shortened 2020 season.
“It was very short that time last year,” Guzman said of his two-inning MLB debut on Aug. 6, 2020 — his only previous outing at the big-league level. “This time, getting the call up from Triple A, hopefully I get to stay here a little longer and help out the team in any way I can.”
There were snippets of his potential on Monday.
Look no further than the first to at-bats before the inning unraveled, with Guzman striking out Freddie Freeman and Austin Riley swinging on fastballs above the strike zone. He got Freeman to whiff on a 98.4 mph four-seam fastball and Riley to chase a 98.1 mph sinker.
Guzman almost got out of the inning in three batters, but Dansby Swanson reached first on an infield single after a seven-pitch at-bat. Guzman then walked Adam Duvall on four pitches, gave up a line-drive double to Travis d’Arnaud that scored both baserunners and walked Guillermo Heredia before striking out Touki Toussaint.
Guzman mixed in all four of his pitches, with his sinker averaging 95.5 mph, his four-seam fastball averaging 95.1 mph, his changeup averaging 84.9 mph and almost touching 90 mph and his slider sitting in the low 80s. Nine of 15 swings by Braves hitters were whiffs.
“He was aggressive with his fastball,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “and he was trying to pitch. He was using his changeup and using a slider. As the inning went on, it seemed like he was having a lot more trouble landing those, but he was aggressive early. ... We’ll see where we go with that through the course of the year.”
Who’s at first?
The Marlins’ quest to showcase Jorge Alfaro’s defensive versatility continues.
Alfaro, primarily a catcher in his professional baseball career, started at first base on Tuesday against the Atlanta Braves while batting sixth. Heading into Tuesday, Alfaro had just four career appearances and 11 1/3 innings of experience at first base at the MLB level, including a start on Aug. 19, 2017, for the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Marlins have also started Alfaro eight times in left field since Aug. 3
Trevor Rogers update
The Marlins plan to transfer left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers from the bereavement list to the restricted list, a source told the Miami Herald on Tuesday.
This move is a formality more than anything. Rogers was first placed on the MLB family medical emergency list on Aug. 3 and then moved to the bereavement list on Aug. 10. A player can spend no more than seven days on either list.
Rogers was at loanDepot park on Tuesday and went through some sort of workout, quipping afterward that it “feels like spring training.”
Rogers, who hasn’t pitched since July 31, most likely will be returning to throwing in some capacity in the near future and will likely spend some time in the minor leagues before rejoining the Marlins.
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 6:50 PM.
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