June 19, 2022

Alcantara Can

Jordan McPherson in the Miami Herald writes a detailed examination of how Sandy Alcantara developed into an elite pitcher for the Marlins. This covers his precise between starts routine, his rich pitch repertoire, his competitive drive, and his willingness to eschew strikeouts if he can get an out on weak contact. I very much like this aspect of Alcantara’s game:

Alcantara paces himself for this. He conserves his energy early in his starts so that he can unleash his full potential late.

“I know how to use my velo and how to use my pitches,” Alcantara said. “I try not to do too much in the first three or four innings, then after that just try to throw as hard as I can.”

The data backs this up. According to Statcast, Alcantara’s average fastball velocity has been the highest this season in the eighth (98.2 mph) and seventh innings (98.1 mph). It averages anywhere from 97.4 mph to 97.7 mph over the first six innings.

MiamiHerald.com

Justin Verlander pitches that way. Verlander also goes deep in games with a long and successful career. Having Verlander as your ceiling is very promising.

1 thought on “Alcantara Can

  1. Jeff A

    They used to teach pitchers to pace themselves like that, which is why pitchers used to be able to go deeper into games. Now they teach pitchers to go max effort all the time, and if they can only pitch three or four innings that way, they just bring in another max effort pitcher. Maybe his success will change things, but I doubt it.

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