Test passed
22-year-old starter settles down after first-inning hits
Young pitcher Alcantara settles down vs. Mets.
JUPITER — The first thing that stands out about Sandy Alcantara is the lanky frame that he leverages to throw the baseball very fast.
Although his fastball has been described as “electric” this spring, that’s not what Marlins officials are focused on as they try to determine if their prized pitching prospect will open the season in the starting rotation.
“Everybody knows he throws hard,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said before Alcantara made his second spring appearance Thursday against the Mets. “But if you don’t have that other stuff, if you’re not able to do some things with the baseball, you end up getting hit around.”
Alcantara’s second spring outing provided a legitimate test against a veteran Mets lineup, including several former All-Stars.
There were some hard-hit balls on the way to allowing one run and four hits in three innings, notably a double by Jay Bruce into the right- field corner in the first inning. But after giving up hits to two of the first three batters, he showed the ability work out of trouble.
There were two strikeouts of the
Mets’ most dangerous hitter, Yoenis Cespedes, swinging at sliders.
Alcantara also induced two double-play grounders immediately after giving up hits. That helped limit his pitch count to 33 – 22 were strikes.
“I was more emotional because they have a veteran lineup that I’m going up against, so I had to be more cognizant of everything,” Alcantara said. “I tried to do the same thing I did last time, tried to locate my pitches and get control of the zone.”
He hit 98 mph on the radar gun at least four times, including one that buzzed Cespedes.
Certainly, the 6-foot-4 Alcantara (pronounced Alcan-ta-ra) has the tools to be the Marlins’ first legitimate staff ace since the late Jose Fernandez.
At 22, the Domincan right-hander is older and more experienced than Fernandez when he debuted in 2013. Despite encouraging early returns, the Marlins will take their time determining if the centerpiece of the Marcell Ozuna trade is ready to take his place in the starting rotation.
“It’s about them being prepared to pitch. You don’t want to put them out there and they’re just in survival mode,” Mattingly said. “You want them to have the weapons, to be ready to pitch here and be competitive.”
That is the criteria being applied to all of the young talent acquired in the recent trades. Alcantara and center fielder Lewis Brinson (Christian Yelich deal) are most advanced, but it is uncertain whether they will open the season in Miami.
While tempted to show early payback on those deals, unspoken is that there is little urgency to rush them and risk setbacks in development on a team unlikely to contend.
This rebuilding process — or building, as CEO Derek Jeter insists — is still in the petri dish stage.
Mattingly sounds like a scientist as he talks about observing how young players react to adversity and make adjustments in competing for major league duty.
“You see stuff. Then you dream of development, where it can go,” Mattingly said of the outlook on Alcantara. “Do we feel the development stops if he gets here or is this a place to continue his development?”
An encouraging sign to Mattingly is that Alcantara has exhibited awareness that it isn’t enough to feature that beauty of a fastball, which averaged 98.6 mph in his cameo with the Cardinals (8 1⁄3 innings in relief ) last September.
“It’s not about getting to the big leagues instead of working to a point where you can stay in the big leagues a long time,” Mattingly said. “I think his mindset is good from that standpoint. We haven’t seen him come and just fire it, trying to throw the ball through the wall to show us he throws hard.
“[Pitch] location is important, and using his secondary stuff. He’s got a nice little two-seamer, his changeup is good. He’s got the makings of a good breaking ball.”
Several Mets, including Bruce, jumped the first pitch, expecting fastballs. The lesson wasn’t lost on Alcantara.
“That is what the scouting report says, so I was aware,” Alcantara said, adding that he came back with the slider against Cespedes because “I got him to strike out in the first at-bat and earlier in that [second] atbat he swung at a slider away, so I decided to come back with it one more time, and it worked.”
Still, it’s spring training, and Mattingly is waiting to see how Alcantara and other rotation candidates progress from outing to outing over the next three weeks.
He noted that lefty Dillon Peters pitched well the first time, then on Wednesday walked four while failing to complete an inning.
“We want to see how these guys are going to bounce back and handle that adversity that they run into,” Mattingly said.
The good news, so far Alcantara has kept adversity to a minimum.