A Marlins top prospect out with injury. Details and how it affects a key competition
Right-hander Edward Cabrera, one of the Marlins’ top pitching prospects, is out indefinitely with an arm injury, removing one strong candidate for a spot in the back end of the rotation.
Cabrera was diagnosed with an inflamed nerve in his right bicep, and there’s no firm timetable for his return.
Manager Don Mattingly said he is “already showing improvement and still able to do a lot of things. We feel like we’ll see him at some point this year. We take our time and let this thing take care of itself. We know he’s going to be good. It’s a matter of getting him right, get him throwing.”
Mattingly said the organization learned of the injury “late in winter” but getting him back to the United States from the Dominican Republic “caused a delay.”
He’s with the team in Jupiter but not throwing.
This is the second injury that has sidelined Cabrera in the past nine months; he likely would have started at least one game, if not more, for the Marlins last summer if he hadn’t been out for a few weeks with shoulder soreness.
Cabrera’s injury leaves four contenders for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, presuming top four starters Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez and Sixto Sanchez are healthy to start the season. (All four are healthy now.)
Those competing for the fifth job: left-handers Trevor Rogers, Braxton Garrett and Daniel Castano and right-hander Nick Neidert.
Rogers and Garrett are both former first-round picks of the Marlins.
Rogers was 1-2 with a 6.11 ERA in seven starts for the Marlins last summer. He struck out 39 in 32 innings but also allowed 45 baserunners. He showed flashes of brilliance in stretches but also allowed five home runs.
Garrett, who had Tommy John surgery four games into his professional career in 2017, was 1-1 with a 5.87 ERA in four Marlins starts last summer. He allowed 13 baserunners in 7 ⅔ innings. Mattingly gave a lengthy assessment of Garrett here, noting “Braxton is a guy that is going to have to be able to locate and get numerous pitches over.”
Castano, a 2017 19th-round pick of the Cardinals who was acquired by the Marlins in the Marcell Ozuna trade, was 1-2 with a 3.03 ERA in seven appearances, including six starts for the Marlins in 2020. He struck out only 12 and allowed 30 hits and 11 walks in 29 2/3 innings but was generally effective.
Neidert, a 2015 second-round pick of the Seattle Mariners who was acquired in the Dee Gordon trade, appeared in four games — all out of the bullpen — last season and had a 5.40 ERA in 8⅓ innings.
Mattingly mentioned those four pitchers as the challengers for a rotation spot but also noted that the Marlins see Jordan Holloway as a starter (he made the opening day roster as a reliever last summer) and that Rule 5 pickup Paul Campbell can start or pitch out of the bullpen.
Of all the prospects that we haven’t yet seen in a Marlins regular-season game, the three most ballyhooed are pitchers Cabrera and Max Meyer and outfielder JJ Bleday. So losing Cabrera is a setback.
Cabrera was dominant in the minors in 2019, finishing 9-4 with a 2.23 ERA in 19 starts between Jupiter and Jacksonville, with 116 strikeouts and 65 hits allowed in 96⅓ innings.
Cabrera, who turns 23 in April, signed with the Marlins as an international free agent in 2015.
The Athletic’s Keith Law, who has been a smart evaluator of prospects through the years, rates Cabrera the top prospect in the Marlins’ entire system.
“As good as Sixto Sanchez is — and he’s very, very good — there’s a solid chance Cabrera will be better because he has the swing-and-miss secondary pitch Sanchez lacks,” Law wrote this week. “Cabrera is 96-100 mph with a plus-plus changeup that’s among the best in the minors. Pick your poison: They’re both potential aces.”
Cabrera is also imposing at 6-5 and 217 pounds.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 9:41 AM.
