Jazz’s home run, Sandy’s perfect start and more from Marlins’ first spring training game
Notes and observations from the Miami Marlins’ 8-3 spring training win over the Washington Nationals on Friday at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and other news from around camp:
▪ For the second consecutive season, Jazz Chisholm Jr. opened spring training with a bang. He hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning, sending a 1-2 pitch from Carl Edwards Jr. to straightaway center field. As he rounded the bases, he pointed to his grandmother, Judy Chisholm, who was in the stands — just like she was when he hit a leadoff home run here last season.
“She’s going to be over here a lot more this year,” Chisholm said. “She’s going to be around here. Feeding me a lot more. I’ve got to gain some weight, keep that power.”
▪ Sandy Alcantara threw three perfect innings in his 2022 Grapefruit League debut, retiring all nine batters he faced. He induced four groundouts, three flyouts and a popout while striking out one — that one being Juan Soto to end the first inning.
“How did he look to you guys?” catcher Jacob Stallings said with a smirk. “He was good. You never really know what to expect the first time out, the first time against other hitters, but he was really good. He pounded the zone, which was really our main objective today.”
Marlins manager Don Mattingly’s perspective?
“He was aggressive,” Mattingly said. “First-pitch strikes. One of the things we talked about with our guys is we want to get ahead in the count and get in the zone. With Sandy stuff, it’s good to see him first time out in the strike zone on the attack.”
Alcantara threw his full arsenal of pitches on Friday and noted his slider was “a little bit too much in the dirt.” So... there’s room for progress.
“I’ve just got to keep working,” Alcantara said. “Keep getting better and keep trying.”
An area he did take pride in: the swinging strikeout against Soto.
“Last year, he hit me in the leg,” Alcantara said. “I remember that. Now, he paid me back.”
Alcantara was referring to the fourth inning his Sept. 13 start against the Nationals last season. A hard-hit ground ball from the Soto ricocheted off Alcantara’s left knee, bouncing straight to Lewin Diaz at first base. Alcantara walked gingerly back to the visitor’s dugout but ultimately threw eight shutout innings, allowing just one hit.
▪ The surprise of the night on the Marlins’ end: Lorenzo Quintana. The non-roster invite, who plays catcher and first base, went 2 for 4 at the plate with a home run to left-center in the second inning, a two-run double to right-center in the third and a hard-hit flyout to center field in the seventh. First baseman Lewin Diaz and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz also hit doubles on Friday.
▪ Miami’s other pitchers on Friday after Alcantara: Daniel Castano (three earned runs allowed on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts in two innings), Cody Poteet (two hits and a walk with three strikeouts over two scoreless innings), Anthony Bender (two walks in one scoreless inning) and Sean Guenther (one hit allowed and one strikeout in one scoreless inning).
▪ As is usually the case with the first road spring training games (even when it’s just a 12-mile bus ride), most of the Marlins’ regulars did not play Friday. A better understanding of how Miami’s lineup will look given the current roster construction will likely unfold over the next week as games continue.
▪ Several prospects played the final handful of innings on Friday, most notably JJ Bleday in center field, Peyton Burdick in right field and Troy Johnston at first base.
▪ The Marlins on Friday claimed right-handed pitcher Yoan Lopez off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies and designated for assignment outfielder Monte Harrison in a corresponding 40-man roster move.
Lopez, 29, is 2-8 with a 4.25 ERA, 82 strikeouts against 33 walks, and a .252 batting average against in 101 2/3 innings over 113 career MLB games spanning across four MLB seasons — all with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The bulk of his big-league experience came in 2019 when he had a 3.41 ERA, 21 holds and a save over 70 relief appearances.
Since then? He has a 6.19 ERA over 32 innings in 33 games between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Lopez uses a fastball-slider combination, with the fastball averaging 95.7 mph and the slider resulting in a 46.9-percent swing-and-miss rate last season.
As for Harrison, he hit just .175 over 62 career MLB plate appearances in 2020 and 2021. He’s above average defensively in center field — and, worth noting, was the only natural center fielder on the Marlins’ 40-man roster — but was out of minor-league options, so Miami would have had to carry him on the active roster or send him through waivers once spring training ended if he didn’t make the team.
Harrison’s departure means that Isan Diaz stands as the last remaining player from the Christian Yelich trade, with Jordan Yamamoto now with the New York Mets and Lewis Brinson with the Houston Astros.
▪ The Marlins on Friday also signed outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. to a minor league deal with an invite to big-league camp.
▪ On the back fields of the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium complex, right-handed pitching prospect Eury Perez struck out seven over 3 1/3 innings while playing in a game against Double A prospects from the Washington Nationals. He allowed just two hits and one run while throwing 51 pitches (35 strikes). Perez, who turns 19 next month, is the No. 41 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline.
Braxton Garrett (one hit and one strikeout over two innings) and Paul Campbell (two hits and one walk against two strikeouts over two innings) pitched in a game featuring Triple A prospects.
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