Offishial news, 7/12/22: Sandy’s Beach; Home Run Derby field filling up

Marlins Game Coverage

Marlins Podcast Episodes

• Monday’s minor league scores: FCL Marlins lost, 2-1; DSL Marlins beat DSL Miami lost, 17-8. José Monserrate (DSL Marlins) reached base safely five times. The 17-year-old outfielder is slashing .300/.396/.413 through his first 25 professional games.
• Jorge Soler (bilateral pelvis inflammation) should be activated from the injured list this weekend. With the Jumbo Shrimp on the road in New York, the Marlins sent him to Double-A Pensacola on a rehab assignment, which begins tonight. Cody Poteet (elbow muscle injury) is close behind Soler. The versatile right-hander is scheduled to pitch tonight for Jacksonville and will be under consideration for an active roster spot if he’s effective.
• Kahlil Watson, the Marlins first-round pick from the 2021 MLB Draft, won’t return to game action in the near future, Alex Carver of Fish On The Farm reports. He is not even training at the organization’s player development facility in Jupiter. It’s a disciplinary measure taken by the Marlins in response to his ongoing unprofessional behavior.
• I want to recognize the effectiveness of Zach Pop so far in 2022. He has stranded 10 of 11 inherited baserunners for the Marlins this season (including two last night). After showing inconsistent control as a rookie, he owns one of MLB’s lowest walk rates (min. 10 IP). He’s throwing sinkers more often than any other pitcher! Look out for a full article about Pop later this week.
• Kevin Barral hopes to see the Marlins buy aggressively prior to the MLB trade deadline. Here are his favorite trade targets.
• One of those targets, Bryan Reynolds, just suffered a right oblique strain. It’s unclear if he will be able to return from the IL prior to the deadline (three weeks from today). Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic reports that the Pirates have rejected recent proposals from contenders interested in acquiring Reynolds.
• Max Scherzer returned from his own oblique strain on Monday, beating the Braves with a typical Scherzer outing (7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K).
• Pete Alonso is seeking to three-peat as Home Run Derby champion. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Albert Pujols will be among his challengers next week. Giancarlo Stanton is likely to join them.
• The latest edition of Fish Stripes LIVE drew one of our largest live audiences of the season. Thanks to Nathan Hursh of Bucs Dugout for stopping by, and I’m grateful to everybody who helped us reach the vaunted 1,000 subscriber milestone on YouTube.

• FanGraphs gives the Marlins a 54.9% chance to win their next game vs. the Pirates.
• Eury Pérez ranks 9th, Max Meyer ranks 25th and Edward Cabrera ranks 56th on Baseball America’s updated Top 100 MLB prospects list. Watson unsurprisingly fell out of the Top 100.
• Sandy Alcantara ranks 4th, Pablo López ranks 22nd and Trevor Rogers ranks 86th on The List of top starting pitchers for fantasy baseball created by Nick Pollack of Pitcher List.
• “Sandy’s Beach” is opening on Friday. On days that Alcantara pitches at home, the Marlins are offering a ticket package for fans to sit in section 22—corresponding to his uniform number—that includes an exclusive t-shirt. If the NL Cy Young frontrunner remains injury-free, he will make approximate 10 more home starts this season.
• More mind-blowing Alcantara stats: he’s throwing fewer pitches per inning than any other MLB starting pitcher this season and he’s only the fifth pitcher over the last quarter-century to go 130-plus innings with a sub-1.80 earned run average through his first 18 games, according to MLB Network.

• Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs observes that all of Alcantara’s pitches have yielded great results this season. How can you do damage against his premium velocity and movement when he’s willing to use his weapons in unpredictable situations? You can’t!
• Prior to Monday’s game, Daniel Rodriguez interviewed former Marlins players Jake Marisnick and Zach Thompson.