Alcantara ‘ready to pitch wherever they place me’
JUPITER — He struck out Buster Posey in his major-league debut.
Yadier Molina once used the words “nice, calm and easy” to describe his pitching style to the St. Louis media.
And J.T. Realmuto is already singing his praises after just one appearance in spring training.
Sandy Alcantara hasn’t even pitched a full game’s worth of innings in the majors yet. But he’s already caught the attention of at least three of the National League’s best catchers, and Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez, one of his boyhood idols.
“I got to meet him once,” Alcantara said of Martinez. “He said I had a great arm and to keep working hard because you never know
what the future will bring.”
The future could be soon for Alcantara if he can turn himself into the top-of-therotation starter the Marlins were looking for when they
acquired him from the Car
dinals in the December trade for Marcell Ozuna.
Alcantara, a 22-year old right-hander, has been highly regarded by scoutsfor a fastball clocked as high as 102 mph since signing five years ago out of the Dominican Republic. His command of that pitch and the potential development of a changeup, breaking ball and wipeout slider that already has worked well for him could make him a standout majorleague starter.
“He’s a nice, composed kid,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He’s got the mentality that he’s working on getting better. We talk about fastball command with him. He’s a guy that throws hard and has good stuff. But sometimes you have guys that just rely on that and don’t realize that command is so important. Obviously, his arm is impressive, but he’s got a mixture of pitches, too.
“He’s not a one-pitch guy. He’s got a pretty good changeup, can run a little twoseamer in there. His breaking ball is getting better and better. He’s a guy that has all the ingredients.”
Alcantara made his major league debut last season in September with the Cardinals, posting a 4.32 ERA with
10 strikeouts and six walks in 8⅓ relief innings. Opposing batters hit .167 off 42 fourseam fastballs.
Alcantara showed good command of all his pitches in his Marlins debut Saturday in Jupiter, retiring all six batters he faced with one strikeout. And he did that without really dialing up the velocity. Alcantara’s fastball touched 96 mph, which was below his average from last season of 98.6 mph on his four-seam fastball per Statcast.
Alcantara, who went 7-5 with a 4.31 ERA in 125⅓ innings (22 starts) in Double-A last year, could become one of the Marlins’ three yetto-be-named starters in the rotation, or start the year in the minors. That decision is one the Marlins intend to be
very judicious with in order to ensure Alcantara’s longterm development.
“We must make sure we don’t have to speed any processes up,” Marlins pitch
ing coach Juan Nieves said. Alcantara said while he would love to earn a starting spot immediately, he appreciates the value of the Marlins’ long-term plan for him.
“I’ll be ready to pitch wherever they place me,” he said.