Latest On Marlins’ Rotation – MLB Trade Rumors
Even after trading Pablo Lopez for Luis Arraez As part of their effort to revamp the roster, the Marlins head into 2023 with a strong group of starting pitchers. Defends the Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara is followed by Jesus Lazardo, Trevor Rogers and off-season pickup Johnny Cueto. Fifth place was at least a bit up in the air, with each of Braxton Garret And Edward Cabrera have a case for the job outside of the camp.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that Cabrera appears to have preceded Garrett on the depth chart. Cabrera had the edge when it came to spring training performance. He has pitched five innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts and two walks; Garrett, on the other hand, was tagged for ten runs in 9 1/3 frames with seven punchouts, three walks and a hit batter.
There are certainly more important factors in the club’s decision than small-scale performances in plays. One could argue that Cabrera entered the camp with the upper hand given its status as a prospect and its higher-octane stuff. The right-hander worked to a 3.01 ERA in 14 starts last year, a solid rookie who showed despite an elbow tendinitis that led to a six-week stint on the injury list. Cabrera averaged north of 96 MPH with his fastball and created swinging shots on an excellent 13.3% of his total pitches. This power stuff had previously put him on Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list every season from 2020-22.
The only area of concern for the 24-year-old Cabrera was some inconsistency in his strike throwing. He went with an increased 11.3% of batters faced, relying on an unsustainable 86.1% strand rate and a .207 batting average on balls in play to keep his ERA around 3.00. However, Cabrera’s season as a whole has been overwhelmingly positive and the organization no doubt expect him to lead the staff alongside Alcantara and Luzardo for years to come.
Garrett, 25, is a former seventh overall winner and a top contender himself. His stock had deteriorated somewhat in recent years due to inconsistent minor league performances. However, Garrett had a pretty strong 2022 campaign, posting a 3.15 ERA in seven Triple-A starts. Even more impressively, he worked in 17 major league games with above-average strikeout (24.1%), walk (6.4%) and groundball (47.8%) numbers to a 3.58 ERA . Garrett’s swinging strike percentage of 11.8% was solid, despite an average 91.4 MPH fastball for pedestrians.
Both Cabrera and Garrett are looking to make the Miami rotation throughout the season, as virtually no team goes through a 162-game roster injury-free. It appears Cabrera is leaning towards first crack, with Jackson suggesting that Miami Garrett is more likely to move to Triple-A Jacksonville than let him start the season with long relief at the MLB level. The Alabama native still has an option year in the minor league, as does Cabrera.