Sandy Alcantara Is FILTHY!

The Marlins aren't exactly a team that people talk about very often. I don't even mean that is an insult. I mean, I'm speaking of someone who is a Tigers fan, but I think, in general, the Marlins aren't a team that's exactly a significant part of the baseball lexicon. With that said, they have a rock solid pitching staff. They got some dawgs who can throw some gas. Sandy Alcantara is at the forefront of that, despite making an All-Star team several years ago, he remains one of the more underrated players in baseball. Today against a Braves lineup that has struggled a little bit this year but remains potent, he tied a career-high with 14 strikeouts over eight innings. Alcantara is now 3-0 over his last four starts with a 0.56 ERA and 32 punchouts over 32 innings. He's also averaged eight innings over those four starts.

I'm a pitching guy, and I love guys who pitch deep into games. I feel like it's a lost art at this point. And Sandy Alcantara has done that consistently over the last several years. Today, his final pitch, which was the 108th of his outing, clocked in at 100 MPH. He was throwing changeups at 94 MPH on the radar gun. The dude can just sling it.

The Marlins are not a good baseball team, and outside of a fluky playoff run in the Covid year in 2020, they have not made the postseason since they won it all in 2003, yet I feel like the wheels are spinning for them. They have a solid pitching staff. Alcantara is obviously at the head of that. I think he's one of the best pitchers in baseball right now. The organization was insulted to death following the trades of Marcell Ozuna, Giancarlo Stanton, and Christian Yelich. Basing your rebuild around starting pitching is a very difficult thing to do. I know this as a Tigers fan who has watched Casey Mize and Matt Manning suffer arm injuries over the last several months, but Miami does have position players like Jazz Chisholm, who seems to be coming into their own. I feel like I'm setting myself up for failure by saying that the Miami Marlins are a year or two away from legitimate success. Still, it feels like the pieces are starting to fall in the place, and at the forefront of that is Sandy Alcantara, who right now is easily one of the ten best pitchers in baseball. Even if the Marlins aren't good, their fans have a reason to come to the ballpark every fifth day because this dude knows how to deal.