After a month off to reset, Marlins’ Trevor Rogers ‘finally felt good’ on the mound
Trevor Rogers stepped out of the bullpen after throwing his final warm-up pitches Wednesday feeling optimistic.
“If I keep this up,” he told himself, “I’m gonna feel pretty good today.”
Good days on the mound have been few and far between for the Miami Marlins’ 24-year-old lefty. He has dealt with a sophomore slump of epic proportions. He entered that Wednesday outing against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 5.85 ERA through 19 starts. He failed to get through more than four innings five times. He gave up at least four earned runs seven times.
Not exactly what the Marlins or Rogers were looking for after a 2021 season in which he was the team’s All-Star Game representative and finished as the runner-up for the National League Rookie of the Year.
He has had the past month to adjust. An injured list stint that started July 26 for back spasms turned into a chance for a physical and mental reset heading into the final month of the season, an opportunity to figure out what was going wrong without as much pressure of needing to simultaneously adjust and produce results.
“All I’m trying to do is put the first half of the season behind me,” Rogers said. “Can’t change that now. Use it as a kind of a building block and really just try to finish strong. Really give this team an opportunity to win every time I’m out there and take it into the offseason.”
Rogers’ first game back Wednesday in the Marlins’ 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays was a step in the right direction.
His final line: One earned run through six innings on five hits and a walk while striking out five. He threw 84 pitches.
It was just the third time in 20 starts this season that Rogers pitched through the sixth inning. It was just the second time that he made it through six innings and gave up just one earned run. The first time came April 28 against the Washington Nationals, one of the few teams below the Marlins in the standings.
On Wednesday, it came against a Rays team that holds the American League’s top wild card spot heading into the final month of the season.
“This one felt really good,” Rogers said. “It was huge for me mentally. I felt like a little kid just jumping up and down. It finally felt good out there.”
He gave up his share of hard hits — 11 of the 17 balls the Rays put in play against him had an exit velocity of at least 95 mph — but most of the contact was on the ground, which minimized the damage. He threw no more than 18 pitches in an inning and showed improved command of his four-seam fastball and changeup while sprinkling in his slider when the right matchup presented itself.
The only time he ran into trouble was in the sixth inning, when he gave up a leadoff double to Yandy Diaz on a line drive to right-center field and a two-out RBI double to Harold Ramirez on a groundball down the third-base line to score the only run he gave up.
And while he knew he was likely done when he walked off the mound after that sixth inning, Rogers felt like he could have kept going.
“Shoot, I was like, ‘Give me the seventh, eighth and ninth, I got it,’” Rogers said. “[But] all kidding aside, I kind of knew when I went down there [after the sixth], I had 80-something pitches. I kind of figured my day was done. But I definitely wanted to get out there and finish the thing.”
The focus now: Building on this start as he tries to close a trying season on a strong note.
“In this game,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “you’ve just got to move forward and keep growing and keep getting better. You’re going to have ups and downs. Trevor’s had a tough season, but he’s a tough kid. He’s going to keep working. He’ll get better.”
Up next
After Thursday’s off day, the Marlins begin a three-game road series with the Atlanta Braves on Friday at Truist Park. Miami will send Sandy Alcantara (12-6, 2.13 ERA) to the mound on Friday to begin the series, with Edward Cabrera (4-2, 2.45) and Pablo Lopez (8-8, 3.64) scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The Braves’ starting pitchers have not yet been announced.
The Friday game, set for a 7:20 p.m. first pitch, will be broadcast solely on Apple TV+.
They cap the road trip with three games against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park.
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 9:54 AM.
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