MIAMI — “Let the kids play” should be the motto of the Miami Marlins as they play out the rest of their disappointing season.
After falling out of the playoff race, the Marlins have some promising prospects who are expected to see plenty of playing time throughout the stretch.
They will be tested against stiff competition from the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres at Londe Depot Park in the coming days.
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As the Marlins give some of their young players a chance, The Palm Beach Post offers these five takeaways.
Impressive return of Jesus Luzardo
Injuries are part of the game, so you don’t want to make them an excuse. But in the case of Jesus Luzardo, you can’t help but wonder what might have been had he not missed two months with a sprained left forearm.
Remember, Luzardo had Tommy John surgery when he was in high school. So, the left-hander was cautious while building up his innings down the stretch.
In his first two starts since coming off the injured list, he allowed two earned runs on four hits with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings. Showing no signs of rust, Luzardo allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings on Aug. 7 in a win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School standout impressed after spring practice. The 24-year-old has had a really great season, but a hand injury has stopped him.
Luzardo has pitched 41 innings and is striking out at 11.41 per nine innings. Opponents are hitting just .152 off him.
If healthy, Luzardo projects to be in the rotation in 2023. The question is whether he will last.
Keystone State success for JJ Bleday
Homecoming featured top rookie outfielder JJ Bleday. The Pennsylvania native hit his first MLB home run in Pittsburgh on July 24, in his second major league game. Bleday grew up outside of Pittsburgh.
Bleday hit his second home run Tuesday in Philadelphia, where his girlfriend, Emily Mathewson, lives. The ball landed in a section of about 75 Bleday family members and friends.
It was more like it on Wednesday, and he delivered a single, a double and a triple.
Both of Bleday’s home runs in the Keystone State were home runs. Mathewson took possession of the ball Tuesday because a friend in the group paid $200 to the fan who caught the homer.
Bleday, the fourth pick of the Marlins in the 2019 MLB draft, plans to become a regular in the future. Still, the left-handed hitter has to earn a spot in the lineup.
So far he is showing potential. The organization intends to give him many chances.
Bleday, who turns 25 on Nov. 10, hit 20 home runs but hit .228 and had a .365 on-base percentage at Triple-A Jacksonville.
Bleday offers a qualitative approach. In order for him to become a successful major league player, it is important to establish constant contact. He struck out 27 percent of the time in Triple-A this season and is 27.9 percent after being called up to the major leagues.
Time to monitor the use of Sandy Alcantara
As fast as Sand Alcantara as the Phillies’ lineup approached Wednesday, circumstances changed just as quickly for him in the eighth inning. The result was an upset 4-3 loss for the Marlins in Philadelphia.
The National League Cy Young Award leader, Alcantara gave up three runs on six hits in the eighth inning and saw his record fall to 10-5 and his ERA rise to 2.01.
One disappointing finish didn’t stop Alcantara from becoming the Marlins’ first Cy Young Award winner. But that raises questions about how to use the 26-year-old for the rest of the lost season.
Alcantara leads the Majors with 166 innings pitched and complete games (three). Short of stopping their ace, the Marlins must consider how to monitor his pitching the rest of the way.
Going with six in the rotation is an option. That would allow Alcantara to pitch until the end of the year, but with an extra day off. It also makes room for left-hander Trevor Rogers, who is rehabbing from back spasms, to return to the rotation.
Charles LeBlanc plays as he should
You don’t want to be fooled by small sample sizes. Still, there’s plenty to like about infielder Charles LeBlanc.
The 26-year-old regularly plays third base and has hit in 10 of his first 11 MLB games. A National League scout who saw him a few weeks ago at Triple-A Jacksonville told The Palm Beach Post that LeBlanc has a chance to be a good player in the big leagues.
In a way, he’s the right-handed hitting version of Miami infielder Joey Wendle.
Edward Cabrera has future ace potential
Edward Cabrera has been in the Marlins system for so long that the 24-year-old tends to overlook some of the other pitching prospects in the organization.
Make no mistake, Cabrera’s upside is as high as anyone in the system, if not the highest. The hard-throwing right-hander has shown it in his two starts since coming off the injured list.
Since then, Cabrera has pitched 10 2/3 scoreless innings with 14 strikeouts and five walks. The biggest question for him is health. On June 15, tendinitis of the right elbow put him on the injured list.
If he can stay healthy, Cabrera has a chance to be a top of the rotation talent.
Joe Frisaro covered the Marlins from 2002 to 2020 for mlb.com. He is the founder of ManOn2nd Baseball. Follow him @ManOn2nd and his podcast on the Five Reasons Sports YouTube channel.
