After walking ‘fine line’ before spring training, Marlins pitchers ready for full ramp up
Sandy Alcantara confidently said on Monday, the Miami Marlins’ first official day of spring training, that he could get into a game and comfortably throw four or five innings.
Trevor Rogers and Pablo Lopez were a little more conservative, but both came to the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex ready to work multiple innings.
It’s a theme that will be seen across spring training sites as exhibition games get underway: Starting pitchers at various stages of their progression with just under three weeks until the start of the regular season.
It’s a side effect caused by MLB’s 99-day lockout that lingered until March 9 — a little more than three weeks after pitchers and catchers were originally supposed to report to spring training sites.
With no set-in-stone start date for spring training or the start of the regular season and no communication allowed with their parent clubs during that time, starting pitchers had to simultaneously start ramping up their workout regiments to build stamina to go multiple innings but also avoid going overboard in case the waiting period continued to drag.
“You want to stay ready,” Rogers said, “but you didn’t want to overdo it because you didn’t really know when you were going to get going. Trying to find that fine line.”
“It’s a matter of knowing your body,” Lopez added. “You know your body, so even if you don’t know exactly how long spring training was going to be, you know how quickly it will take your body to ramp up.”
It was “frustrating,” as pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. put it, to not be able to keep tabs on the pitching staff during the offseason due to the lockout.
But with that said, and even though not every starting pitcher is at the exact same spot in their progression, Stottlemyre said he is pleased with how their starting pitchers entered camp — both in terms of their build-up and the crispness they’ve shown in their early bullpen and live batting practice sessions.
“You put them up in their first bullpen, and you could tell whether they’ve done their work,” Stottlemyre said, “and then you you sit down and you find out everything they’ve done. Our rotation’s definitely handled their business with all their live BPs and ups and downs that they did. That says a lot about them, too. I know they’re young. They’re sometimes not supposed to know things like that, how to prepare themselves like that, but they’ve done a good job. ... It’s a plus. I mean, it’s a shortened spring training. It’s important that we get out of the gate healthy, but where we got our guys ready to go compete and win some games.”
As has been the case the last few seasons, the Marlins’ success will likely begin with the success of its rotation. The core of Alcantara, Lopez, Rogers, Jesus Luzardo, Elieser Hernandez and Edward Cabrera will be the backbone for a Miami team that is working to improve an offense that was in the bottom five in most key statistical categories a year ago.
The true ramping up in game settings begins now. Alcantara, Miami’s presumptive Opening Day starter when the Marlins begin their season April 8 against the San Francisco Giants, is slated to throw three innings or 45 pitches in Miami’s first spring training game on Friday against the Washington Nationals at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Alcantara threw a four-inning bullpen session this week, but Stottlemyre said the plan is to “back him down a little bit” for the first live game. The anticipation is that the rest of the starting pitchers will throw two innings in their first Grapefruit League appearance and expand their time on the mound with each appearance.
Alcantara, 26, cemented his spot last season as the ace of a young-yet-talented Marlins pitching rotation. He started 33 games last season, pitching to a 3.19 ERA while holding opponents to a .223 batting average. Alcantara struck out 201 batters over 205 2/3 innings, becoming just the fifth pitcher in franchise history to both pitch at least 200 innings and strike out at least 200 batters in the same season.
“We know how Sandy’s wired,” Stottlemyre said. “We know how he takes care of his business, the way that this guy is prepared. He has shown us from certainly all the time that I’ve been here how he looks at things. He doesn’t take anything lightly and he’s always challenging himself and trying to push to get better. He’s the leader of our group and and his work ethic and how he prepares it exemplifies that.
“He’s a special man. He’s a throwback.”
And he’s not alone. Rogers emerged as a top-end starter while finishing as runner-up for the National League Rookie of the Year. Lopez showed promise as well so long as he can stay healthy.
And there’s enough intrigue and room for development in the likes of Luzardo and Cabrera to round out the group. Hernandez can also fill a back-end role if the Marlins feel one of those two need to start the season in the minor leagues or be a swingman and get time in a long-relief role.
“This staff is loaded top to bottom,” Rogers said. “We’re stacked and we love to compete. I think that’s the main important thing. We’re just ready to go.”
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