Fresh Fish News, 3/10/19: Positive signs from Grapefruit League, first round of cuts

With the regular season inching closer and closer each day, Fish Stripes continues to bring you fans all the latest regarding your Miami Marlins.

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Spring Training Scores for the Week

This week the Marlins went 4-4, and now sit at 6-10 overall in Spring Training games. Here is every score for the games of the past week:

March 3rd—Braves 6, Marlins 5. After tying it up in the 9th after a 5-3 deficit early on, the Atlanta Braves walked it off on a HR by Andres Blanco off of Brian Moran.

March 4th—Marlins 9, Nationals 8. The Marlins were able to win this high offensive game thanks to a walk-off hit by Isaac Galloway and a game-tying HR by Gabriel Guerrero.

March 5th—Marlins 3, Mets 1. After being behind 1-0, the Marlins scored three runs between the seventh and eighth innings to secure the win against the New York Mets. Sandy Alcántara pitched 3 ²⁄₃ innings of shutout baseball, but had problems with his control throughout the game.

March 6th—Braves 4, Marlins 0; Astros 11, Marlins 5. Marlins had split-squad action on the 6th in two losses, one with not a lot of offense and the other where they gave up too many runs. Against the Braves, the Marlins could only muster four hits, but had two solid innings from Nick Neidert. Against the Houston Astros, Trevor Richards went three innings and a third and gave up a run. Drew Steckenrider gave up six runs which ultimately cost the Marlins the game.

March 7th—Astros 4, Marlins 1. In another contest against the Astros, the Marlins had more hits than Houston but the defense cost them the game early on with José Ureña going 2 ²⁄₃ innings, but giving up four runs (three unearned) and the offense failing to score more than a run.

March 8th—Marlins 10, Mets 3. The Marlins broke out the bats against the Mets with Neil Walker going 3-for-3 with 4 RBI and 2 HR. JT Riddle homered himself and the club racked up 13 hits total. Their pitchers only allowed three runs with Dan Straily going 3 ¹⁄₃ innings.

March 9th—Marlins 2, Nationals 1. The Marlins again had stellar pitching against the Nationals with Pablo López going four perfect innings and Wei-Yin Chen going four innings as well with only one hit with the only Nationals run coming on a Carter Kieboom HR off of Adam Conley in the ninth. Curtis Granderson also got his first hit, mashing a solo HR in the 5th inning.

First Round of Cuts From Major League Camp

The Marlins made a flurry of roster moves Friday with many prospects being sent down to the minors, essentially removing them from the competition for Opening Day roster spots. They optioned Jordan Yamamoto, Kyle Keller, Elieser Hernández, and Magneuris Sierra to Triple-A New Orleans; Jorge Guzman to Double-A Jacksonville; and Jordan Holloway to Single-A Jupiter. Five other youngsters—not on the 40-man roster—were also reassigned after having spent recent weeks with the major leaguers.

This will Yamamoto’s first taste of Triple-A. He thrived at three lower minor league levels in 2018. If he translates that success to the Pacific Coast League, the Hawaiian right-hander will be in called up to Miami sooner rather than later.

Lewis Brinson Off to a Hot Start

With so many doubts and fears from the fans heading into the 2019 season after a poor rookie season, Lewis Brinson has started off this spring hot and is continuing to make adjustments. Fish Stripes’ own Marshall Thomas wrote in more detail about not only his potential to be the next Marlins’ superstar, but also his power potential and how he will help the Marlins now and in the future.

Fish Stripes Bobblehead Contest

Manufactured by FOCO

If you haven’t already heard, we here at Fish Stripes are having ourselves a little contest for the lovely Miami Marlins fans to participate in. A limited edition Billy the Marlin Game of Thrones bobblehead is on the line. It’s a $60 value, free for whoever correctly comments with the correct score—or closest score— of the Rockies vs. Marlins Opening Day game coming up on March 28.

There is still time to participate in this contest, so do not miss out! Make your prediction here.

Marlins Birthdays

The youngest and oldest pitchers on the projected Opening Day roster, right-handers Pablo López and Sergio Romo celebrated birthdays this past week. They turned 23 and 36 on Thursday and Monday, respectively.

Romo’s roster spot has been secure ever since signing a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Fish. He has not had a bad spring for himself, pitching to a 3.00 ERA in three innings of work. Don Mattingly intends to use him in a flexible, high-leverage role.

López, meanwhile, is trying to force his way into the major league rotation through a crowd of intriguing candidates. He’s been arguably their most impressive arm during Grapefruit League competition, improving to a 1.00 ERA after Saturday’s masterpiece and showing filthy stuff.

Also, former Marlins Juan Encarnación (43) and Benito Santiago (54) had celebrations of their own in recent days.

• Fish Stripes will be joining the SB Nation Podcast Network, which means complementing Fish Bites with more great audio entertainment. More details coming soon!

• Sign up for our Marlins FanPulse group. Looking for die-hard fans who want to weigh in on the direction of the franchise through all the ups and downs of the 2019 season.
• Highly regarded prospect Zac Gallen bounced back from an average first half last year and turned it into a spectacular second half all by fixing his arm slot and making sure his cutter was effective, as Wells Dusenbury of the Sun Sentinel explains
• First-round draft pick Connor Scott appeared on the Beyond the Bases Podcast where he talked about how he felt when he got drafted, reflected on his high school career and provided an inside look at Marlins Captain’s Camp (both on and off the field)
• Andre Fernandez of The Athletic (subscription required) has the secret behind Pablo López’s rebound from a shoulder strain and advice on how to value Marlins pitchers in your fantasy leagues

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With still a couple more weeks until the regular season starts, stay tuned to Fish Stripes for all your Miami Marlins news, stories and analysis!