Alcantara working way back; Marlins need him

Marlins Opening Day starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara has been working out in Jupiter after being cleared following his battle with the novel coronavirus. He hopes to rejoin the team soon.

Sandy Alcantara has called it the toughest challenge he has had to face. The Marlins’ ace in the making found himself shut down for more than two weeks. He was stuck in quarantine, first in Philadelphia and then in South Florida, after being one of 18 Marlins players to test positive for COVID-19 three games into the start of the regular season.

He has been itching for the moment to get back, the opportunity to help a team that finds itself in the playoff hunt during this truncated 60-game season. Going into Tuesday, the Marlins had gone 7-6 with a makeshift roster missing three starting pitchers, eight members of their original bullpen and five regular position players.

That chance could be coming soon.

Alcantara is throwing on a field again, going through workouts at the Marlins’ alternate training site at the Roger Dean Stadium Complex in Jupiter. He threw a 22pitch bullpen late last week and is scheduled to throw 50 pitches in a

live batting practice session Wednesday.

“I feel 100 percent ready to go right now,” Alcantara said Tuesday on a Zoom call from Jupiter before the Marlins played the New York Mets at Marlins Park. “I’m just waiting for the call.”

While Marlins manager Don Mattingly has not given timetables for the return of any of the 18 players who tested positive for COVID-19, Alcantara’s return would be a welcome one.

Alcantara, Caleb Smith and Jose Ureña have been sidelined due to the novel coronavirus, forcing Mattingly to patch together a five-man starting pitching rotation. The Marlins have already optioned Jordan Yamamoto, who held his own through 15 starts as a rookie in 2019, back to Jupiter after struggling through three starts.

Two mainstays from the Opening Day roster — Pablo Lopez and Elieser Hernandez — have impressed as they took on greater responsibilities.

Lopez’s 2.25 ERA through three starts put him tied for 13th among qualified starting pitchers entering Tuesday; Hernandez’s 1.84 ERA would be the 10th best in baseball among starting pitchers but he has not pitched enough innings to qualify.

Players have to average at least one inning per team game played to be part of the leaderboard. The Marlins had played 16 games. Hernandez has only been on the mound for 142⁄3 innings.

Alcantara has noticed the two, as well as prospects Daniel Castano and Humberto Mejia, step up in the void.

“I’ve been watching the games all the time,” Alcantara said. “Those guys have been doing a great job.”

Alcantara feels like his chance to rejoin those players will come sooner rather than later. He wants to get back on the mound and continue building on his breakout finish to the 2019 season and his seven-inning performance on Opening Day before the positive test surfaced.

It comes down to what the Marlins front office wants to do.

And that applies to all 18 players, not just Alcantara.

“Everyone’s on kind of a different program or timetable depending on how they were feeling when they got back,” Mattingly said.

Mattingly said shortstop Miguel Rojas is “probably the most advanced guy down there as far as feeling good.” Mattingly said Rojas’ biggest concern was getting reps defensively.

Mattingly also said Ureña and Smith are “close behind” Alcantara. Reliever Yimi Garcia has a couple bullpen and live batting practice sessions scheduled.

“Each guy will be on an individualized program,” Mattingly said, “to get them where we need to get them to.”

Simply seeing the progress is a notable step in the right direction for Mattingly as they start to get the opportunity to field a full-strength roster again.

“Getting the guys back, or even just knowing they’re in the pipeline, helps us,” Mattingly said, “because it’s just like, when we’re on that trip and we’re losing all these guys, all of a sudden we don’t know half our team. ... The mentality was ‘We have to survive this trip.’ Knowing those guys are coming is a good feeling.”