Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara talks pitch clock, leadership and WBC after first spring start
Sandy Alcantara is excited for the start of the World Baseball Classic on March 11 and why wouldn’t he be? His first game with the Dominican Republic will be at loanDepot park against Venezuela, and he’s expecting to take the mound opposite Pablo Lopez in a reunion of close friends and long-time — and now-former — teammates.
He’ll report to the Dominican national team next week, but first he had a couple Grapefruit League starts to make for his Miami Marlins and Wednesday was an important one. If the Dominican Republic makes a run in the international tournament, Alcantara might only make two spring starts, including just the one at Roger Dean Stadium.
“I love working with my team,” Alcantara said after firing two scoreless innings in the Marlins’ 8-4 loss to the New York Mets. “I’ve got to be prepared to be out there for the WBC, but I need to keep working here.”
There was a lot to take in Wednesday, too. It was his first start with new manager Skip Schumaker watching, likely his lone opportunity to set an example for some of the young pitchers he’s hoping to groom and an initial opportunity to throw under the constraints of MLB’s new pitch clock.
In all, the results were something like a spring facsimile of what Alcantara did last year on the way to his first Cy Young Award. He threw 26 pitches, and gave up two hits and no runs, with no strikeouts and no walks. He mixed four different pitches among his 26 and threw 19 of them for strikes. The All-Star starting pitcher was typically efficient and limited any damage, even as he gave up some hard contact.
His main priority, he said, was to “throw strikes” and it made for a quick outing. In his first inning, Alcantara threw 10 fastballs, four changeups and two sliders, working around a lead-off single to get three straight outs, although the last one was a hard-hit, warning-track fly ball by All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso. The right-handed pitcher threw 16 pitches in the first. In his second, Alcantara again worked around a single and used an even more balanced arsenal of pitches: four fastballs, three changeups, two sliders and one sinker, which nearly yielded a double play, only for Mets prospect Lorenzo Cedrola to narrowly beat a throw at first base.
Sandy Alcantara unfazed by new rules
Alcantara, who once threw a complete game in less than 2 1/2 hours last season, was never fazed by the league’s new 15- or 20-second pitch clock.
“I like working quick and you guys see what I did last year,” the 27-year-old pitcher said. “I get it already, I work quick, I don’t have to worry about the clock because I know what I need to do to get on time.”
His review of the ban on the shift was even more positive.
“Last year, I got so made sometimes when they moved the position player and the ball was right there,” he said.
Alcantara sets tone for Marlins
Schumaker was particularly excited to be managing Alcantara this week after he had to coach against him last year.
In 2021, Alcantara made two starts against Schumaker’s St. Louis Cardinals and the latter was a complete game.
“It’s good to be on this side,” he said, smiling ahead of Alcantara’s preseason debut.
The first-year manager’s appreciation of Alcantara isn’t just about what he can do on the mound.
Alcantara has been in training camp for two weeks, reporting early because he’s playing the World Baseball Classic, and said he’s already “100 percent” ready for the start of the season.
“That’s easy for a manager,” Schumaker said, “when you can sit back and watch your best player be your hardest worker.”
Alcantara’s work, the right-handed pitcher said, started on the first day of November last year — only about a month after the 2022 MLB season ended — and rookie starting pitcher Eury Perez spent the fall and winter working with him before camp started last month.
Now in Jupiter, Alcantara makes 2 1/2-hour sessions in weight room routine and tries to make sure his younger teammates are paying attention, in the same way he used to watch starting pitcher Jose Urena — now with the Colorado Rockies — work when he first got to Miami in 2018.
Perez is following his lead. Starting pitcher Edward Cabrera is, too. It’s what Alcantara and the Marlins both want.
“[Urena] spent a lot of hours in the weight room and I watched him throw his bullpen, his light BP and I said, Why can I not do it?” Alcantara said. “They watch me doing my workouts, they watch me throwing, they watch my bullpen, they watch my game today, so it’s real important for them to watch me because a long time ago I was like them.
“I’m the leader. I’ve got to keep doing my best to show them that we’re here to prepare ourselves to have great success in the future.”
Next up for Sandy Alcantara
Alcantara will make one more start Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte and then make the quick trip south to Fort Myers, where the Dominican is holding its training camp for the World Baseball Classic. He also could end up starting the opener for the Dominican against Lopez, whom Miami traded to the Minnesota Twins in January.
Alcantara can’t hide his excitement.
“We created a really good relationship in here and we are brothers from different mothers,” he said. “We want to enjoy it. We want to enjoy that moment. The Miami city will enjoy that day.”
This and that
▪ Relief pitcher Huascar Brazoban arrived in South Florida on Wednesday after visa issues kept him in the Dominican Republic for the start of spring training. The righty has been throwing at home, and the Marlins expect he’ll have plenty of time to get ready and be available for the start of the regular season March 30.
▪ Relief pitchers A.J. Puk and Tanner Scott both threw from 90-120 feet on back fields Tuesday. The left-handed pitchers are both dealing with injuries — Puk has slight tightness in his adductor and Scott has slight discomfort in his left bicep — and have not yet appeared in Grapefruit action.
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 4:48 PM.
