Volquez makes debut in spring opener
JUPITER – Edinson Volquez’s lone inning Saturday, the spring training debut for the Miami Marlins’ marquee offseason signee, went about as he figured it would: not very well.
Four-pitch walk. Flyout. Lineout. Strikeout. One run, 10 pitches, five strikes.
The details didn’t really matter, though. He doesn’t think very highly of himself as far as spring training goes.
“Bad. Really bad,” Volquez said with a smile that acknowledged the significance of February and March baseball. “If you check the numbers you’re going to be like, ‘Oh, why did [the Marlins] sign this guy?
“I just throw the ball in the middle [of the plate]. When I was in Pittsburgh, they made me do that. That was the process for me.”
But a game is a game, and Saturday’s 8-7 Grapefruit League win against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium was the Marlins’ first. In addition to each player working on basic baseball keys to success — throwing or swinging at strikes, for example — the biggest goal is to finish healthy.
The Marlins accomplished that goal Saturday. They’ll seek to do it again most days for the next five weeks.
“You never really know how the first [games] are going to go,” said center fielder Christian Yelich, who homered and walked. “You kind of just want to get through it healthy, get your feet wet and kind of use that to build toward the season.”
The first game of spring does include mild milestones. It’s the first time pitchers throw to batters who aren’t their teammates. It’s the first time batters step to the plate without the turtle batting hood looming over them. They play in a stadium, not a backfield with a chain-link fence. And there are fans in the stands, coaches in the dugout — as opposed to on the field — and umpires scattered about.
If good things happen on the field, hey, they’ll take that too.
First baseman Justin Bour homered two batters after Yelich did.
“Obviously, home runs are great. That means you’re doing something right,” Bour said. “But for me it’s more getting that feel right and sort of getting my feet back under me and getting the rhythm of having good at-bats.”
After Volquez, Tom Koehler (scoreless), Dustin McGowan (two earned runs), Hunter Cervenka (scoreless) pitched an inning apiece. Nick Wittgren (one earned) tossed two.
The home-plate umpire showed up a couple of innings late — another ump temporarily filled in behind the plate — but other than that there weren’t any major issues.
“We’re just trying to get these guys going, get them out there,” manager Don Mattingly said. “For me, the guys you know are pretty much on the club. It’s about getting ready and getting on the mound and getting them built up. I don’t know how much spring tells you other than that they’re healthy.”
Left-handed pitcher Jeff Locke experienced some discomfort in the bullpen this week, but Mattingly said an MRI did not reveal any structural damage.