ON THE AIR
like Wednesday, throwing 20 pitches off a mound, was more than enough validation for Enright.
“I felt amazing,” said Enright, whom the Marlins selected in the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 7, a little more than two weeks before his diagnosis. “For me, that’s the last two months of work and everything that gone into it — between plyo balls in my basement when I was going through treatments and all that — the reason I’m doing all that is so that I can get out here and be on the mound. For me, I could have been spraying balls halfway up the fence and it wouldn’t have mattered. Just to be back on the slope was a huge milestone and a huge checkpoint through all this.”
Stottlemyre, 59, understands Enright’s situation. The pitching coach was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February 2021 and has a family history of cancer — his father, Mel, died four years ago at 77 from blood cancer and his younger brother, Jason, died from leukemia at age 11.
“During our conversations in the winter, I did a lot of listening to him, and then I opened up to him,” Stottlemyre said of Enright. each had two hits and were magnificent in the middle infield. Vazquez and Maldonado also had multiple hits. The offense as a whole had 11 hits, with all nine starting position players safely reaching base at least once.
Marcus Stroman was dominant over 42⁄3 innings, with his only blip solo home run to Nicaragua designated hitter Elian Miranda to end his outing.
Stroman was efficient with his pitches and looked sharp considering he had only thrown 41⁄3 innings in spring training for the Chicago Cubs and only threw 21⁄3 innings the last time he started March 2.
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“I’m a little off schedule,” Stroman said, “so I thought I threw the ball pretty well considering . ...
“I told him my story. I gave him my dad’s story. I gave him my little brother’s story and everything that took place and what they went through and their perspective on life. And, really, it translates to pitching if you think about it. There are some good days and you can have some bad days. He made the choice to move forward with his program, and I’ve been there with him to support him. He knows that.
“We’ve had conversations at during spring training,” Stottlemyre continued. “With all the guys that I have, I just want to make sure that I didn’t let him slip away and not check in with him and that if he needed somebody I was going to be there for him. Hopefully, that part helps him.”
Enright appreciates the bond he has forged with Stottlemyre. Enright also is thankful for his teammates’ support. A contingent of pitchers and catchers watched as he threw his bullpen session, and he received fist bumps from all of them after he finished.
“The fact that I ended up in an organization where a pitching coach like him has gone through
To go out there and make it into the fifth having nine days off, I think that’s a pretty good accomplishment. I knew these boys were going to get hot sooner or later. So I just had to limit the other team. I knew if I kept them to one, two runs or less, I knew that we were going to bounce back and score runs at some point.”
That they did.
Puerto Rico followed its five-run fifth inning with a three-run seventh, and the bullpen of Nicholas Padilla, Yacksel Rios, Duane Underwood Jr., Anthony Maldonado (a Miami Marlins prospect) and Emilio Pagan covered 41⁄3 scoreless innings.
All together, it gave Puerto Rico an early win in pool play.
Considering the field, it what he has gone through and we have that shared connection is really awesome,” Enright said.
“The fact that all these guys are here around me while I’m going on the mound is an encapsulation of my entire journey through all this. Every step of the way, there’s people right and left there to help support me and be there for me.”
Enright, a right-hander who pitched at Virginia Tech, was originally a 20th-round pick by Cleveland in the 2019 MLB Draft. He finished the 2022 season with Cleveland’s Triple A affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. In 37 innings over 29 appearances with the Clippers, Enright posted a 2.68 ERA with 50 strikeouts against just six walks while holding opponents to a .216 batting average.
For his career, he has pitched 1412⁄3 innings in the minors and has a 2.80 ERA with 201 strikeouts against 35 walks. Baseball America called Enright “one of the most polished available relievers in this year’s Rule 5 class” and called him “a relatively low-risk addition to a big-league bullpen as a Rule 5 pick.”
Marlins manager Skip was a needed win if Puerto Rico wants a chance to make a run at its first World Baseball Classic title after coming oh-soclose each of the last two tournaments.
The rest of the pool in Miami to open the tournament include the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Israel. Every team faces each other once, and the two teams with the best record after those games advance to the quarterfinals. The Dominican Republic played Venezuela in Saturday’s late game in Miami.
“We are not saying that we are the favorite team. We are going to show the world what we can do,” Lindor said.
“We are here to play the game at the highest level, so we are moving forward.”