Rogers, Jazz learning value of adjustments

MIAMI -- Two prominent Marlins rookies are winding down their first half, and they’re learning how to adjust when the league does so.

All-Star Trevor Rogers battled on the mound and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit an inside-the-park homer, but Miami dropped its third straight in a 5-4 loss to Atlanta on Saturday at loanDepot park.

With his mechanics off, Rogers allowed at least one baserunner in all but one of his four frames. According to Rogers, he wasn't finding good extension on the baseball and properly getting to his load and separation from when his leg goes down the slope. Being in high-leverage situations often also exacerbated his issues.

The 23-year-old southpaw’s average fastball velocity was 93.7 mph -- third lowest of the season and nearly 1 mph less than usual. Rogers entered with 79 strikeouts on his four-seamer, the third-most K’s on an individual pitch among all Major Leaguers. He recorded three on Saturday -- his second-lowest total on the season. In Monday’s start against the Dodgers, he had just three and his lowest fastball whiff rate (11%, 3 whiffs out of 27 swings).

"I wouldn't really say it was the Braves, it was more myself," Rogers said. "I was battling myself all day. Wasn't attacking the strike zone really at all, was battling from behind, made a few good pitches. But my secondary stuff wasn't there today. I really just had to battle and just really minimize damage as best I could."

Over his past four starts, Rogers has a 4.12 ERA and has not completed six innings. He has faced tough lineups during this stretch in the Blue Jays, Phillies, Dodgers and Braves. Despite this, Rogers still hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his 18 starts. That’s the longest streak by a starter, not including openers, to begin a season since Steve Rogers with 21 straight in 1978. In 2020, Rogers was often plagued by the big inning, in particular on Sept. 21 in Atlanta.

Rogers, who is scheduled to be available to pitch in Tuesday's All-Star Game, has thrown 101 1/3 innings this season. His career high is 136 1/3 frames in 2019 between two Minor League levels. In '20, he pitched 28 innings. Manager Don Mattingly doesn’t see fatigue setting in.

"He is walking more people, but it seems like he's using more pitches to get through innings, and that just may be the case ... this game's back and forth all the time, it's cat and mouse," Mattingly said. "He's not 'Trevor Rogers the Rookie' anymore, it's 'Trevor Rogers, All-Star,' and a guy that's been Rookie of the Month a couple months. So these people are hearing about him, so it's starting to be like [they] might want to pay attention and gameplan a little better. You never know what it is, but the adjustments keep coming both ways, so he'll keep making them. I think he's fine as far as being tired. Obviously, it's going to be a long year, but he's pitched some innings in the past, and his stuff's still good. The stuff is still crisp, but we're going to keep an eye on him for sure."

Chisholm, meanwhile, collected his 11th dinger of the season -- and Miami's first of the inside-the-park variety in three years -- in the fifth when Ronald Acuña Jr. sustained a right leg injury on the play. In the ninth, Chisholm knocked a two-out RBI single that kept the rally alive. Chisholm credited a veteran whispering advice in his ear earlier in the week during the Dodgers series for renewing his calmness at the plate.

The 23-year-old Chisholm got off to a fast start in 2021, but his numbers have gone down since. It likely doesn’t help that he missed time with hamstring and ankle injuries.

April: .290/.375/.551 with a .926 OPS (21 games)
May: .278/.297/.361 with a .658 OPS (8 games)
June: .227/.292/.409 with a .701 OPS (27 games)
July: .242/.286/.424 with a .710 OPS (9 games)

"For me, I feel like I could be way better, honestly," Chisholm said, "and help my team to get better in the future. Every day you work hard, every day you go out there, you put in the work to help your team and be the best player out there. Next half, I'm expecting to come out there and do that, just come out there and be the best, help my team win more games than we won in the first half and just keep on advancing from there. Going to take it day by day."