WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Sandwiched between Marlins left-hander Jesús Luzardo and top prospect Eury Pérez’s latest outings were the spring debuts of two pivotal pieces of the bullpen.
Southpaws A.J. Puk and Tanner Scott each tossed a perfect inning in Friday night’s 7-2 Marlins victory over the Nationals at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
“You saw a different look tonight,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Backend bullpen guys in the big leagues just look different, and seeing those guys come off the field healthy was No. 1 for us. No. 2, the velo was there, the secondary pitches were there. We love where they're at right now. Good sign.”
Acquired from the A’s for JJ Bleday a couple days before big league camp opened, Puk had been delayed by slight tightness in his push-off leg following a live batting practice. It was a minor setback, as he continued to progress leading up to Friday's 15-pitch outing.
Puk, who turns 28 in April, got Jeter Downs to fly out to left, struck out Riley Adams on a fastball and fanned Alex Call on a splitter -- a new addition to his arsenal -- in the fifth.
“The idea behind it was just another pitch that I can help get righties out,” Puk said. “I was a lot of just fastball/slider last year, like side to side, but now I've got the pitch going down that can help get righties out better.”
Scott’s return to game action had been delayed by slight discomfort in his biceps he felt after his second live BP. In Friday’s 13-pitch appearance in the sixth, he induced a pair of 3-1 groundouts with help from great defense by Jordan Groshans and struck out Keibert Ruiz on a fastball.
Puk and Scott pitching in the same game brought flashbacks as well as possibilities. As prospects, they participated in the 2017 Sirius/XM All-Star Futures Game in Miami. Last season, they had career years. In his first full MLB season, Puk posted a 120 ERA+ and four saves in 62 outings. Scott, whom the Marlins acquired toward the end of Spring Training ‘22, went on to save a career-high 20 games.
“As a reliever, you live for the leverage situations, and I had the opportunity to do it last year, and it'd be great to do it again this year and just keep building off it,” Scott said. “Definitely my first time doing that. There was a lot of ups and downs. You rather have more ups, but if you don't have any downs, you don't learn. So that's the biggest thing I could take away from that.”
Now, Miami hopes their pure stuff can secure more victories in a tough National League East.
According to Statcast, Puk and Scott ranked in the higher percentiles for the following categories:
• 98th fastball spin (Scott)
• 96th whiff percentage (Scott)
• 96th extension (Puk)
• 90th average fastball velocity (Puk)
Along with Puk and Scott, right-handers Matt Barnes, Dylan Floro and JT Chargois and left-hander Steven Okert provide a handful of late-inning options for Schumaker.
“You have swing-and-miss stuff from the right and left side that have done it before, and then you have guys like JT [who] can throw ground balls, get double plays, so I think you have a mix of guys that have swing and miss, you have guys that you can put in the game that you're looking for a double play,” Schumaker said. “There's probably five or six guys that have had back end experience at some point in their careers at the big league level that have a really good chance of making the team, and so it gives us a lot of different options.”