Rogers is gunning for Rookie of the Year Award in final weeks. ‘It kind of means a lot’
It had been a long time since Trevor Rogers felt as good as he did Tuesday in the Miami Marlins’ 7-1 loss to the Washington Nationals. Long before a second-half trip to the injured list and a month-long absence for a family emergency, Rogers had established himself as one of the best pitchers in the National League — full stop — and spent the first few months of his rookie season piling up accolades.
He won an MLB Rookie of the Month Award in April and May, and was chosen as the Marlins’ lone representative in the 2021 MLB All-Star Game in July. He had 10 strikeouts in his second game of the season and had a sub-2.00 ERA until the second half of June. The starting pitcher was the clear-cut frontrunner for an MLB Rookie of the Year Award until a series of missed starts and short outings after the All-Star break derailed his season.
His outing Tuesday, though, was a throwback to those early days of the season and could be the late-season launching pad he needs to get back into the NL Rookie of the Year hunt. With less than two weeks left in the season, Rogers said it’s something he’s gunning for to close out his spectacular debut season.
“It kind of means a lot, to be honest with you. It’s something in the back of my mind that I’m working for,” the 23-year-old starter said, “but first off, every time I take that mound I want this team to win. That’s the first thing every time I take that mound is I have to compete for this team to win a ballgame and then personal stuff comes second.”
I’d probably be lying to you if I said I wasn’t thinking about it at all, so, yeah, it’s definitely in the back of my mind and we’ll see what happens.”
His best start of the second half is a reminder of why he should not be counted out just yet.
After a mostly stop-and-start second half, Rogers completed five innings for the first time in more than two months and matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts in Miami. He cruised through five innings and only ran into trouble in the sixth because of a couple of singles, a handful of errors and a costly leadoff walk.
Rogers gave up only two hits and one walk in his first five innings, then issued a leadoff walk to start the sixth and gave up two more singles before exiting after 5 1/3 innings. The Marlins (64-87) also committed two errors in the inning and gave up a single on a hit with an expected batting average of .170, according to Statcast.
Rogers’ 5 1/3 innings and 96 pitches were his most since June, back before he was named an All-Star for the first time in his career. His 10 strikeouts were his most since April and even though he gave up four runs, only one was earned — a feat has managed only one other time since the MLB All-Star Game.
“I finally felt like my normal self,” Rogers said.
His entire arsenal was back and he carved through the Nationals (62-89) using all three of his pitches. He got 15 whiffs — five each with his fastball, slider and changeup — and his velocity was up from his season average on all three of his pitches, including 1.5 mph on his changeup. He struck out all three of Washington’s top three hitters and got star outfielder Juan Soto, who hadn’t struck out in 43 plate appearances, to drop to a knee as he flailed a third-strike changeup in the top of the sixth.
The left-handed pitcher worked the fastball early — he threw it a season-high 60 percent of the time — and got four strikeouts with it, then worked the changeup as a counter and four more with the off-speed pitch.
“He threw some good changeups, but, as much as anything, I thought he located his fastball tonight, got it to the top of the zone. It just puts guys in more of a bind,” manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s probably the sharpest he’s been in the second half.”
Ultimately, it was an important return to form for the pitcher, who admitted it was a needed confidence boost. Rogers missed one start in July when he landed on the 10-day injured list for back spasms, then didn’t pitch at all in August for myriad personal reasons. Both of his parents contracted COVID-19 and his mother had a serious bout with pneumonia because of it. While Rogers was away from the team to be with his parents, both of his grandfathers died within a week of each other. Rogers went from the family medical emergency list to the bereavement list and eventually to the restricted list throughout August before he eventually returned the Majors on Sept. 4.
The stop-and-start nature of his second half has meant success has been fleeting for Rogers since the All-Star Game. Until last week, Rogers hadn’t gotten through a second-half start without allowing multiple earned runs and even once he did Wednesday in Washington, he only lasted four innings.
Now Rogers’ ERA is back down to 2.67 — the lowest it has been since he gave up two runs in 4 2/3 innings in his first start off the restricted list earlier this month. If he had pitched enough innings to be eligible for leaderboards, Rogers would have the fifth best ERA in MLB.
Rogers said it has taken some time to get back in a rhythm after missing all of August and an extra day of rest before his Tuesday start, he said, “got me back to where I needed to be.”
With either one or two starts left in the 2021 MLB season, Rogers feels ready to make a final push for one last accolade.
“I’d probably be lying to you if I said I wasn’t thinking about it at all,” Rogers said. “It’s definitely in the back of my mind and we’ll see what happens.”
Fortes homers, takes big hit
Catcher Nick Fortes continued the red-hot start to his career by delivering Miami its only run Wednesday, then he weathered a scary collision at home just a half inning later.
After Fortes belted a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead, he went back to his usual spot behind home plate and collided with Washington middle infielder Alcides Escobar in the top of the sixth.
Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz laced a game-tying single to left field with one out in the frame and Washington third base coach Bob Henley waved Escobar home from second. Fortes set up in the base path as outfielder Lewis Brinson fired a throw home and Escobar with Fortes, sending both sprawling to the ground. Both players stayed down for close to a minute, and Fortes eventually shook himself off and stayed in the game.
Fortes popped up in bottom of the seventh and struck out in the bottom of the ninth to fall short of his first three-hit game. The rookie, who was making his second career start, is now 5 of 9 with two homers and a walk to start his Major League career.
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 9:43 PM.
