After injury and a role change, Marlins’ Zach McCambley ends season in Arizona Fall League
.jpg "Zach McCambley pitches for the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos.")
It has been a busy year for Miami Marlins pitcher prospect Zach McCambley.
It started with a spring training injury that nearly derailed his entire season before it began and continued with adjusting to becoming a relief pitcher after spending his whole career as a starter. The year is wrapping up in Arizona, with McCambley one of seven Marlins prospects participating in the Arizona Fall League — giving him a chance to make up for some of the time he lost at the beginning of the season and to get an extra six weeks to hone his craft.
So far, McCambley has made seven appearances in the Fall League, pitching to a 3.38 ERA with 12 strikeouts against five walks over eight innings of work.
“Super grateful to be out here,” said McCambley, the Marlins’ third-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.
Especially since McCambley’s season almost didn’t happen.
The right-handed pitcher sustained a low-grade UCL sprain during spring training, which sidelined him for the early portion of the season. McCambley originally was going to get Tommy John surgery to repair the sprain but after getting a second opinion it was determined he could get back to the mound with an extensive rehab process — one that took about two-and-a-half months to complete. He didn’t make his first appearance in a game until June 9.
“By that time,” McCambley said, “I had done so much arm care and had been killing the rehab that I haven’t had a problem since. It really is just about staying on your pre- and post-throw routine so that you don’t have to get back in rehab. Now that I know that there’s a lot more to arm care than what I was doing in the past, I know what I have to do going forward.”
Going forward, McCambley finds himself pitching as a reliever. The change came this season after spending his first two years in the Marlins organization and the bulk of his college career at Coastal Carolina before that as a starter.
And he found success in the role. McCambley pitched to a 3.22 ERA over 30 games last season, most of which were with the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He struck out 51 batters while walking 24 over 44 2/3 innings.
His biggest adjustment: Finding a set routine to get ready despite not knowing exactly if or when he was getting into a game.
“There were a couple times this year where I was a little surprised when I would hear my name be called to get hot,” McCambley said. “So for me, it’s more about staying locked in pretty much the whole game, especially if you notice the possibility you could throw because in the bullpen, you could really throw at anytime depending on what happens with the starter that day.”
The move suits McCambley’s arsenal even though he admits it took him a little bit to adjust to the role. McCambley is primarily a fastball-curveball thrower, so being able to maximize those two pitches in shorter spurts is a benefit compared to having to gameplan lengthier outings without a consistently effective third pitch.
“At first, I didn’t see much of an uptick in velo just because I was still adjusting to coming in and letting it eat,” McCambley said. “I didn’t really grasp that feeling just because I was so used to throwing in the first inning and gradually being able to throw harder as the game went on. But for me, I saw that as long as if I was keeping my breaking ball around the zone or over the plate, it still had a really good whiff rate. ... I do feel like my stuff plays really well [out of the bullpen]. The fastball plays off the breaking ball. It’s just about staying in the zone.”
McCambley’s time in the Arizona Fall League wraps up over the next couple weeks, but he is planning to use it as a springboard into his offseason program. McCambley will be staying in Jupiter and working out at Cressey Sports Performance until spring training gets underway in February.
“Just attack the offseason with great purpose,” McCambley said, “and go into spring training looking like a new player.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2023 at 11:45 AM.
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