The Miami Marlins exceeded expectations in 2023, but 2024 didn’t go as planned in South Beach. The Marlins finished last season 62-100 and were out of playoff contention for most of the summer.
A lot of those struggles can be attributed to pitching. Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara missed the entire season last year after undergoing Tommy John Surgery to repair an elbow injury, but he is back this spring and looks like himself through two spring training starts.
On Friday, Alcantara threw 30 pitches across two innings and didn’t give up a run in a loss against the Atlanta Braves. He was hitting triple digits with the fastball and was well into the 90s with his off speed pitches, via Christina De Nicola of MLB.com.
“Overall, Alcantara maxed out at 100.4 mph with his four-seamer in the second, 93.2 mph with his changeup in the first and 90 mph with his slider in the second,” De Nicola wrote. “Alcantara’s 100.4 mph fastball is the fastest pitch by a starter this spring, and Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is the only other starter to reach triple digits.”
Before Alcantara’s surgery, he hit 100 miles per hour on his fastball just three times during the 2023 season. He has already exceeded that figure this spring.
This is a great sign for the Marlins, who will need Alcantara to be at his best this season if they want to compete in a stacked NL East division that includes three elite teams: the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets.
Alcantara will continue pushing it in his next start, and the plan is to get him to throw three innings next time out. It will be a long process to get him back to throwing full starts, but the fact that Alcantara is already hitting high velocity and retiring batters at a high rate is a great sign.
The hope is that by the time Opening Day rolls around on March 27, Alcantara is ready to go give the Marlins a quality start and get the season started off on the right foot.
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