Alcantara, Marlins can sense ace's return to form on the horizon

BALTIMORE -- That the Marlins achieved their best first half in franchise history is even more impressive when considering they did it without their top player from last season pitching to the fullest extent of his capability. So it was with optimism that Miami opened the second half behind ace Sandy Alcantara, confident that the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner will put his disappointing first half behind him down the stretch.

Though things appear to be trending in the right direction for Alcantara, those struggles still aren’t behind him just yet.

The results continued to elude Alcantara in Friday’s 5-2 loss to the Orioles, when the right-hander struck out five and held Baltimore to three runs (two earned) across six solid innings, but was outdueled by Dean Kremer. Miami’s offense mustered little more than Jorge Soler’s 24th homer, though Alcantara and the Marlins saw positives to take from their and their ace’s first defeat of the second half.

“Everything was there -- command, velo, just one walk,” Alcantara said. “I feel good about it, coming out of the break. I feel bad because we didn’t win the game.”

Said manager Skip Schumaker: “I thought he did good. I think he’ll tell you he made two big mistakes with the home runs. … Other than that, his fastball velo was as good as it’s been, maybe the whole year. His changeup was good. Slider was good. Got a lot of ground balls.”

Alcantara and Schumaker are correct about Sandy’s stuff. Alcantara’s fastball topped out at a season-high 100.6 mph and averaged 98.6 mph (per Statcast) on Friday, nearly a full degree up from his season average. The command, too, is trending up – Alcantara has now issued two or fewer free passes in each of his last eight starts, over which he owns a 4.23 ERA. That’s still a far cry from his minuscule 2022 numbers, but it’s much better than the 5.05 ERA he posted through his first nine starts of ‘23.

And he’s grown more consistent in the past month, with a 2.92 ERA in his last four outings. Asked how he could build off those starts in the second half, Alcantara said, “Keep doing what we’re doing.”

“I am trying to think of what I was doing in my past few outings and trying to get better every day,” Alcantara said.

Still, the overall numbers tell the story of the difference in Alcantara’s year-to-year effectiveness, through 19 starts this season compared to his first 19 starts of 2022:

        IP           ERA         K/BB        Opp. OPS

‘22: 138.1 1.76 123/33 .530

‘23: 120.1 4.64 99/34 .709

And yet, the Marlins remain on pace to set their franchise record for wins, powered by a pitching staff that led the National League in strikeouts and a rotation that set the franchise record for whiffs prior to the All-Star break. Their starters rank fourth in the NL in innings, fifth in ERA and first in strikeouts and FIP.

They’ve done all that without what they were expecting from their ace and getting virtually nothing from their premier offseason pitching addition Johnny Cueto, who returned to the team as a reliever on Friday. Adding a fully returned-to-form Alcantara to that group is atop the Marlins’ wish list for the second half of 2023.

“He’s worked on a mechanical change and I think he’s seeing the results from it on the positive side,” Schumaker said. “[It’s about] continuing that and being able to adjust mid-game, knowing where he’s body is at mechanically, so he can avoid those big innings.”