Richard Bleier joined Marlins at a time of uncertainty. He remains as one of their bullpen vets
Richard Bleier didn’t know what to expect when he was first acquired by the Miami Marlins. He was one of seven players brought in from outside the organization — and one of 16 players added to the big-league roster overall — in August 2020 after the Marlins had 18 players test positive for COVID-19, an outbreak that caused the Marlins to be quarantined for a week.
“The initial thoughts,” Bleier said, “were definitely I don’t even know what’s going on here.”
Two years later, Bleier is still here — the only player among those 16 call-ups not only still on the 40-man roster but in the organization in any capacity — and he’s going to be here a little bit longer, too.
The Marlins on Tuesday announced they gave Bleier a two-year contract extension with a club option for the 2024 season. Bleier, a Miami Beach native and South Plantation High alumnus who turns 35 on April 16, will earn $2.25 million this season and $3.5 million in 2023. The club option for the 2024 season is $3.75 million or a $250,000 buyout.
“It’s a rewarding experience, especially in my situation,” Bleier said. “Not too many guys sign their first full-year free-agent deal at age 35, so it’s been quite a journey.”
‘He just knows who he is’
That journey includes spending part of nine seasons in the minor leagues before making his MLB debut with the New York Yankees in 2016 and then spending three seasons with the Baltimore Orioles from 2017-2019 before joining the Marlins early in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Now, he is solidified as the main left-handed high-leverage reliever in the Marlins’ bullpen.
Bleier has pitched to a 2.89 ERA in 87 appearances for Miami over the past two seasons and has held left-handed hitters to a .218 batting average against throughout his career.
And while many look at strikeouts when evaluating pitchers, that’s not Bleier’s forte. He’s a groundball pitcher, and he’s good at it. According to Statcast, 64.4 percent of balls put in play against him being on the ground (MLB average, for comparison, is 45.1 percent).
“He’s not a guy trying to pitch at the top of the zone,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He tries to do what he does. He knows who he is. We try to match him up accordingly. We try to give him as many lefties as we can. He’s been tough on them. He just knows who he is.”
Bleier added: “Early on, everyone, including myself — you’re not sure. You have to prove it to yourself that you’re good enough for this level and at some point when you have sustained success, you realize that ‘Yeah, it’s not luck you got that guy out. You’re good and you got that guy out.’ For some, that comes quicker than others, but I think they wouldn’t call guys up if they didn’t believe that was to be true for them. It’s just a matter of getting the player to really buy into that as well. I’ve come a long way and I know what I do can work. It’s just a matter of getting it done.”
‘You can’t replace experience’
And with that comfortability in his game comes an opportunity to pass on knowledge to the rest of his teammates, especially with the Marlins having plenty of youth among their relievers.
Bleier quickly became a helping hand for rookies such as Anthony Bender, Zach Pop and Sean Guenther over the course of the 2021 season. All three hit rough patches during their first big-league season. Bleier became a mentor of sorts for the three as they maneuvered through their struggles — helping them with pitch sequencing, scouting and maximizing each pitch.
“You can’t replace experience in this game,” Bleier said. “Unfortunately you have to live and learn in this game, so if I can share my experiences that I’ve learned the hard way with the younger guys or less experienced guys and they can speed up the learning curve. I think it’ll only help everyone.”
Guenther, the only lefty of that rookie trio from a season ago, said the mentoring for him continued in the offseason when he and Bleier would work out as the same gym.
“He would make a point to come watch and tell me what he saw,” Guenther said. “You’re talking about a guy who’s been around for the better part of six, seven years now. He knows what it takes to be successful. ... Having a resource like that, a guy that’s willing to say ‘This is what I’m seeing; this is what I think can make you better,’ cuts down on all the guessing.”
Mentally, Bleier has the make-up to be a coach once his playing career is over. It has crossed his mind before — “pretty much after every bad outing, I think about what I’m going to do with my life after baseball,” he said — but he has other priorities at this point.
“I’m focusing on this season,” Bleier said.
And potentially the next two after that.
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