Sandy Alcantara emerging as Marlins ace? 44% of fans think so

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send 30 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Marlins fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

The 2019 Marlins look eerily similar to...the 2018 Marlins. Across the board, the fanbase expected some improvement in the second full year of this rebuilding process, and there are still another five-and-a-half months to be proven correct about that.

But the bottom line results—a 2-2 start, only to slump to 3-9 and the National League’s worst record, including one particularly ugly blowout loss—have been identical. Our FanPulse respondents who overwhelmingly supported the direction of the team on Opening Day (95%) expressed more mixed feelings in this week’s survey:

We continue to ask specifically about Don Mattingly’s job performance. Realizing that his roster is lacking the talent and well-rounded skill sets of most MLB teams, 67% of fans support him despite the losses. That’s up from 59% last week.

Here is a new wrinkle to the survey moving forward: pick your ace! For all of their shortcomings, the Marlins have a fascinating rotation of José Ureña, Trevor Richards, Pablo López, Sandy Alcantara and Caleb Smith. There is no clear No. 1 guy on the staff, so we asked you to decide.

Every starter received some love, with Sandy and his team-best 1.50 ERA coming out on top:

(Please note that the survey closed before Richards tossed six shutout innings on Wednesday night)

The full percentage breakdown:

• Ureña: 8%
• Richards: 25%
• López: 14%
• Alcantara: 44%
• Smith: 8%

Thanks to everybody who has been participating in Fish Stripes FanPulse. Of course, we’re still glad to accept more sign-ups (remember to check your email, including the spam folder).