Florida Marlins

Triple-A: New Orleans ZephyrsW 4-3 @ Sacramento River Cats Full Box Score Kevin Mattison, CF: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B, HR, SO Rett Varner, SP: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, SO New Orleans pulled out a win despite facing a dominant Sonny Gray, who struck out eleven Zephyrs and walked none. Baseball America named Gray the 65th best prospect in baseball this off-season. Kevin Mattison hit his first home run and fourth double of the season, raising his slash line to .277/.322/.434. Double-A: Jacksonville SunsW 5-2 @ Mississippi Braves Full Box Score Jake Marisnick, CF: 2-for-5, R, 2 SONoah Perio, 2B: 2-for-3, R, BB Adam Conley, SP: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, SO, HRArquimedes Caminero, RP: 1.0 IP, 2 SO Adam Conley has struggled to miss bats since his season debut, where he struck out eight batters in five innings pitched. He posted his lowest strikeout total of the season yesterday, yet still pitched effectively enough to ensure the win. His ERA for the season fell to 4.40. High Class A: Jupiter HammerheadsW 7-2 vs. Daytona Cubs Full Box Score Brent Keys, CF: 2-for-4, BBLogan Morrison, DH: 0-for-3, BBAustin Barnes, C: 1-for-3, R, HR, 2 BB, SO Anthony DeSclafani, SP: 6.0 IP, 3 H, R, ER, BB, 6 SO Brent Keys reached base three times, continuing his scorching hot week. Keys is batting .415 over the last 10 games. After missing the month of April, he doesn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the Florida State League batting title. If he did, his .361 average would beat out Miguel Sano's, the current leader. On the other hand, Anthony DeSclafani has collected enough inning to qualify for the league ERA title. His 1.32 ERA currently stands as the second best in the league. Low Class A: Greensboro GrasshoppersL 4-5 @ Hagerstown Suns Full Box Score Cameron Flynn, LF: 3-for-4, SOMatt Juengel, DH: 2-for-4, 2B Scott Lyman, SP: 5.0 IP, 4 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 3 SO Hagerstown walked off in the bottom of the ninth, after closer Blake Logan blew a two-run lead.

Having lived in Gainesville, Florida, for the past eight years, I’ve watched a lot of Florida Gators baseball games. I’ve seen a ton of great players, both Gators and opponents, and I’ve been wrong about almost all of them. I marveled every time Georgia came into town and I got to watch Gordon Beckham. I was positive Matt LaPorta would hit 35 home runs a year as a designated hitter, and I was certain Bryan Augenstein had the stuff to stick in the majors as a reliever. I’m hoping that my streak of being wrong is over, because for three years, I loved the heck out of a righty named Anthony DeSclafani. He was the type of player that I love – a grinder that just gets the job done. He wasn’t flashy, and his stat lines weren’t eye-popping. It seemed that every time he was in a big spot, DeSclafani delivered. In his final season at UF, I watched him come to the mound in the ninth inning with two runners on against the University of Miami and shut down the Hurricanes, nailing the Gators’ first ever sweep of UM in Gainesville – the day after he pitched two scoreless to clinch a 1-0 win against them. He shut down LSU in Baton Rouge. He came up big in the SEC Tournament against Georgia. And yet there wasn’t a whole lot of draft chatter about him, and I was selfishly hoping that no one had noticed this kid so he’d come back for his senior year. The Blue Jays took DeSclafani in the sixth round of the draft, and he was gone. Gone from my life for a year and a half, until fate (and Jeffrey Loria’s stinginess) brought him back into my life. I was sitting in a coffee shop with my fiancee and a florist, discussing floral arrangements for our wedding. I got a Twitter message that the Marlins were trading Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes, and Emilio Bonifacio to the Toronto Blue Jays. I was irate. Beside myself. There was no word on the return – some rumors had Travis d’Arnaud coming back, which was exciting. Eventually, it was reported that the haul was Henderson Alvarez, Jake Marisnick, Yunel Escobar, Adeiney Hechavarria, Justin Nicolino, Jeff Mathis, and a minor league pitcher. It took a while to get the info on who the minor league pitcher was. It was Anthony DeSclafani. My anger subsided a little. But enough about my relationship with DeSclafani – this article is about him, after all, and not me. DeSclafani is a young 23 years old (his birthday is in April) and, as previously mentioned, was drafted out of UF. He throws a low-90s two-seam fastball and a changeup, and has a subpar curveball and slider in his repertoire. He pitched out of the bullpen plenty in college, but both the Blue Jays and Marlins have viewed him as a starter. He’s responded well thus far, though he probably profiles as a bullpen arm long-term. 2012 was DeSclafani’s first pro season, and he performed very well. In 28 games – 21 of which were starts – he threw 123 innings and went 11-3 with a 3.37 ERA, striking out 92 while walking 25. His FIP was just 2.70, and he allowed just 3 home runs all season. His BB/9 rate was shockingly low, but so was his strikeout rate. Most people – myself included – viewed DeSclafani as a throw-in in the Blue Jays trade. So far, however, he has been lighting up hitters in Jupiter. On the season, DeSclafani is 4-1 with a 1.32 ERA in 41 innings, spanning 9 starts. He’s given up just 35 hits and 8 walks while striking out 40. His strikeout rate has gone way up, while his low walk rate has remained essentially the same (it has actually dropped from 1.83 to 1.8). Opponents, who hit .307 against him last year, are now hitting just .229. His success thus far this season has been sustained, as he has had just one start in which he gave up more than one earned run – and in that start on May 16th, he gave up 2. He has, however, given up a large amount of unearned runs, giving up an additional two in the May 16t

The Miami Marlins have given up temporarily on using Steve Cishek as the team's sole closer and are now turning to a closer-by-committee system, as reported by the Palm Beach Post. Manager Mike Redmond said following the Marlins’ 5-1 win against Philadelphia on Monday night that Cishek will begin sharing those duties with right-hander Chad Qualls and left-hander Mike Dunn. With Miami leading 2-1 in the eighth inning Monday, Redmond had Qualls warming up to pitch the ninth inning. The Marlins scored three runs in the eighth, costing Qualls a save opportunity. The Marlins figured Cishek could use a break from being the only man on the job given that he has struggled early in the season. Cishek has a 4.91 ERA and 4.29 FIP, so he was not doing well in his first 18 1/3 innings pitched this year. But Cishek's biggest issue is not necessarily general, but specific to left-handed hitters. Against lefties this season, Cishek has allowed a .325/.438/.564 (.410 wOBA) line thus far in 48 batters faced. His FIP is not much better, as he has walked 16.7 percent of lefties faced en route to a 6.37 FIP. Compare that to his numbers versus righties, including a minuscule .097/.188/.111 (.149 wOBA) in 34 battes faced thus far. He has struck out more righties with only two walks to his name against them. Essentially, Cishek has made the average right-handed hitter look like a bad-hitting pitcher this year and the average lefty look like Ryan Braun. Joining him in a three-headed closer monstrosity will be Mike Dunn and Chad Qualls. Dunn does not have as extreme a split as Cishek, and to his credit he has performed well this season thus far (1.74 ERA, 3.03 FIP). He has dropped his walk rate thus far and gotten more hitters to chase his pitches out of the zone. He also has more ground balls this season than ever before, up to a 45.5 percent rate from a career 42.2 percent mark. Then again, this is Mike Dunn, Mini-Mayhem himself, and he has a well-known reputation for throwing too many walks to be relied upon in the late innings. Still, he is likely at this point a better choice versus lefties than Cishek. Chad Qualls fills the experience quotient for this three-headed monster, but he does not really belong here with the other two. He does have a nice 3.63 ERA and 3.61 FIP this season, but he has always given up more home runs than a guy with a career 57.4 percent ground ball rate probably should, and he brings very little else to the table other than grounders. Qualls is coming off of a year in which he played for three teams and posted a 5.30 ERA and 4.60 FIP, so he certainly has his ups and downs. Will this experiment work? It is likely just a short-term solution to get Cishek some rest and occasionally let him work in lower leverage environments in order to work out his potential kinks. Qualls is not long for this team after this season, and Dunn should only take over the position of closer if and when Cishek is dealt. It should not seriously affect the Marlins' chances of winning either, as the team just does not run into enough save situations to make this move matter.

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Miami Marlins starter Alex Sanabia spit on a ball and caused a great controversy, but as of yesterday's writing, there was not much more information on the ordeal. All we knew is that, based on the clip following Domonic Brown's home run, Sanabia spit on the baseball and rubbed up the ball, clearly violating a rule in baseball. Did the umpires catch something like that? Initial reports said no, then I heard that the umps did see something regarding Sanabia's baseball and his mouth. It turns out, according to this MLB.com article, that crew chief Joe West reported that the umps did not catch anything directly after the event, but they did see something later in the game. Crew chief Joe West, who was the first-base umpire Monday, was asked about the incident on Tuesday. West noted that he didn't see Sanabia spit on the ball, and therefore it was used in the game. But later in the game, West did order Sanabia to discard another ball for improperly going to his mouth. The ball having been used in the game certainly makes a difference in people's minds, as people will consider it more of a violation if Sanabia attempted the spitball and actually got away with throwing a pitch. But as Barry Petchesky of Deadspin notes, it does not mean that Sanabia got a real advantage out of the pitch. Spitballers load up a ball, and they keep the load on the ball. That little bit of baggage messes with the rotation, and causes the ball to move unnaturally. They don't vigorously rub a substance into the cowhide, as Sanabia did. Especially not when it's spit, which almost surely dried out by the time he delivered the next pitch. While Sanabia absolutely violated the letter of the law, it's hard to imagine he was doing anything other than trying to get a better grip. This was confirmed to some degree by Pitch F/X data displayed by Dan Rozenson in this Baseball Prospectus Unfiltered piece. Indeed, when I looked at Sanabia's start in the game recap, I did not see any difference in his game as compared to his entire season. This was all in support of Alex Sanabia, who earns his third win of the season after another mediocre start. He did strike out three batters and induced another 10 whiffs. Once again, Sanabia got swings and misses of 11.3 percent of his pitches and was only able to strike out three batters, continuing to baffle Marlins fans. He scattered seven hits but was twice bailed out in part by two double plays turned by Hechavarria, Dietrich, and Nick Green. It is easy to see Sanabia perform relatively well compared to his other starts, know that he spit on a ball, and put two and two together to come up with a conclusion. But aside from the runs count, he did not really pitch any differently than he usually does. He got swings and misses on 11.3 percent of his pitches that night versus a 10.3 percent rate during the season. The large number of swings and misses as a whole has been baffling, but the performance from Monday is internally consistent with most of his season's work, even down to the minuscule strikeout numbers. He was better at controlling the ball in the game, posting a 2.0 balls-to-called-strikes ratio overall, but it did not assist him in getting any more strikeouts than usual. It is still very likely that Sanabia will face punishment for his spitting transgression, but it is unlikely that the saga will go any longer than that. Given his actions, it is unlikely he gained any benefit from the pitch, and the publicity of the action all but assures a suspension followed by a normal return to the rotation by Sanabia, if the Marlins have not tired of his poor play.

Hand was a late scratch from his start against the Sacramento River Cats on Tuesday night. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports Down on the Farm Report for the Miami Marlins: May 19th Triple-A:New Orleans Zephyrs (19-24) @ Sacramento River Cats  (25-20) Win 4-3 Gil Velazquez, SS: 2-for-4, SO, BB, 3 RBI Ben Lasater, 1B: 0-for-4, 4 SO Brad Hand, SP: Scratched, Oblique injury. Chris Hatcher, RP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, SO, SV (12) Jordan Smith blew a 3-2 Zephyrs lead in the eight inning and caused the game to go extra innings. Luckily, recent signee Velazquez picked up the game winning single to drive in Gorkys Hernandez to put New Orleans up 4-3 for good. Chris Hatcher got the ball in the ninth and made things interesting by allowing two hits. He was able to bounce back and strike out Andy Parrino to end the game. Parrino struck out four times in this game. Not to be outdone by Parrino, Lasater struck out four times in this one, he did his in four at bats though, compared to Parrino’s five. Double-A: Jacksonville Suns (25-17) @ Mississippi Braves (27-18) Win 5-2 Kyle Jensen, RF: 0-for-4, 4 SO Noah Perio, 2B: 2-for-3, R, RBI, BB Adam Conley, SP: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, SO, HR Michael Brady, RP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, SV (8) Apparently Jensen did not want Lasater to be the only one to have the honor of  picking up a golden sombrero in this game, as he struck out each opportunity he had. It is a small sample size, but Jensen, a right handed hitter, is starting to develop an interesting platoon split. Against lefties, Jensen has a slash line of .323/.488/.613, but against righties, Jensen has struggled for a .218/.326/.409 slash line. Jensen turned 25 on Monday and is still in Double-A. There is a reason he has been seen as a non-prospect for a while. Conley has had an up-and-down season in 2013 and it did not get much better this start. Conley is still struggling to rack up strikeouts this season, as he has just 34 in 43 innings. In 2012 he had 135 in 127 innings. High Class A: Jupiter Hammerheads (24-20) vs. Daytona Cubs (22-21) Loss 7-2 Brent Keys, CF: 2-for-4, BB Austin Barnes, C: 1-for-3, HR (3), RBI, R, 2 BB Anthony DeSclafani, SP: 6.0 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 6 SO Ronald Barnes, RP: 0.0 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, DeSclafani has been the best player in the Marlins-Blue Jays trade early on. He has a 1.32 ERA for the Hammerheads in nine starts. In 41 innings of work, DeSclafani has struck out 40 in 41 innings, while only walking eight. He did so against a talented squad that has prospects such as Jorge Soler and Javier Baez. The former Gator could receive a promotion to Double-A soon if he continues to pitch well. The only thing that went against DeSclafani on Tuesday was Ronald Barnes. He came into the game in the 10th inning and allowed five runs on five hits without recording a single out. Barnes saw his ERA sky rockets from 2.16 to 4.86 in his rough outing. Low Class A: Greensboro Grasshoppers (17-26) vs. Hagerstown Suns (26-15) Loss 5-4 Cameron Flynn, LF: 3-for-4, RBI, SO Yordy Cabrera, 3B: 1-for-4, 2B (8), R, RBI, 3 SO Scott Lyman, SP: 5.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 3 SO Blake Logan, RP: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, SO, BS (4) Flynn continues to hit well in 2013, with three more hits Tuesday, he raised his slash line to .371/.455/.505. He has also struck out just 15 times and walked 11 times 97 at bats. Flynn was the Marlins in the 2012 draft out of the University of Kentucky. Logan had gone seven consecutive games without allowing a run, that came to an end on Tuesday night, as Logan blew his fourth save of the season, allowing three earned runs and a walk-off hit in his 1/3 of an inning of work.

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May 20, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Alex Sanabia (28) throws a pitch during the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports It would be an understatement to say starting pitcher Alex Sanabia has been a major disappointment in 2013. Going into Monday’s start, Sanabia owned a 5.00 ERA and a 5.89 FIP. He had just two more strikeouts than walks on the season. He finally delivered a decent start for the Marlins against the Phillies on Monday night, but it was something else he did that caught the attention of the baseball world. Alex Sanabia is in the middle of a spitball scandal after a video showed Alex spitting in the direction of the baseball after a Domonic Brown home run. While there is no proof that the spitball benefited Sanabia, he broke the rules and there is a chance that he could face discipline from the MLB. Here are some reactions from around the internet: Alex Sanabia Might Be In Trouble For Spitballing | Fangraphs Let me preface all of this by saying that it’s always possible that a quick video replay could be missing necessary context and misrepresenting what actually happened. There is some uncertainty when viewing events from afar, especially in a narrow timespan. It is possible that what you’re about to see isn’t what it looks like. Top 10 spitball-related nicknames for Alex Sanabia of Miami Marlins | Yahoo! It remains to be seen what Major League Baseball will do, if anything, to right-hander Alex Sanabia of the Miami Marlins for spitting on the ball Monday night. Umpires didn’t seem to notice. The Philadelphia Phillies didn’t seem to notice. Broadcasters didn’t either. But fans did. Get Excited About the Miami Marlins’ Young Prospects Before They Get Traded | Grantland You know the story. Jeffrey Loria bought the Montreal Expos, ran them into the ground, then swapped them for the Florida Marlins. For the next 10 years, he ran, essentially, a skeleton operation, at one point so brazenly failing to compete that Major League Baseball started leaning on him to spend more on player salaries. He argued that, as a multimillionaire, he couldn’t make enough of a profit unless the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County (who have a median household income of $43,957, and 17.9 percent of whom live below the poverty line, according to the latest census figures) bought him a new stadium. Alex Sanabia and the potential spitball incident | Fishstripes Numerous sources spotted Alex Sanabia spitting on the baseball after giving up a Domonic Brown home run in last night’s 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Now the good news, it looks like the Sanabia spitball incident will die quietly without a suspension from the league. That could be good or bad news from a Marlins fan perspective, as seeing Sanabia pitch again could be as bad as the embarrassment involved in his alleged baseball crime. Miami Marlins pitcher Alex Sanabia’s spitting issue ends quietly | Miami Herald The newest controversy to attach itself to the Marlins doesn’t appear to have much of a shelf life. Video captured from Monday’s Philadelphia broadcast briefly showed Marlins starter Alex Sanabia spitting on a new baseball tossed to him moments after Domonic Brown deposited the previous one in the sparsely filled right-field seats. Here at Marlin Maniac: Philadelphia Phillies @ Miami Marlins Series Preview: Did The Marlins Break Roy Halladay? Justin and I chatted about everything from if Charlie Manuel is on the hot seat due to the team’s struggles to if the Marlins are responsible for breaking Roy Halladay. Series Preview: Philadelphia Phillies @ Miami Marlins May 20-22, Games 45-47 The Marlins will have a chance to salvage their homestand and improve their embarrassing 6-16 mark at home in a three game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Marlins have sustained some success against the Phillies this season, going 4-5 ag

Tuning into last night's game, I was looking forward to another impressive Jose Fernandez start, and maybe even a quality baseball game. Boy, I was in for a real surprise. Fox Sports Florida producer Frank Forte led me on a cultural tour of Marlins Park, opening my eyes to a world of culinary delight. I discovered that Frank's eating habits proved to be an accurate barometer of the Marlins' success or failure within the game. Now, I haven't exactly performed an empirical study on this issue, but I am reasonably confident in my methodology here. I did minor in molecular gastronomy. Let's examine Frank's journey in detail. Frank Eats Cuban Sandwich Described as "almost like a Cuban panino," this sandwich acted as a good omen for Cuban-born Jose Fernandez. Fernandez pitched well through three scoreless innings, until a smoothie made him veer wildly off course. Frank Drinks Smoothie Named the "Five-Tool Player," this Diamond Juices creation includes strawberry, mango, coconut milk, and a plus-plus agave nectar tool. However delicious, this drink was ill-timed. Delmon Young came to bat shortly afterward. Once a highly touted five-tool prospect, Young has since redefined what it means to be a bust, producing -0.7 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement (fWAR) across a seven year career. Yet, the infamously bad outfielder homered off Fernandez, and later doubled in the top of the sixth. The presence of the smoothie may be circumstantial evidence, but I remain convinced that it functioned as an early-indicator of Young's extra-base hits. Frank Eats "Magnum Dog" Wikipedia tells me that the hot dog originated from Frankfurt, Germany. The only active German-born baseball player in the National League is Edwin Jackson, who has posted a 5.76 ERA in nine starts for Chicago. Frank just had to go and eat the most enormous, horrifying dog in the park, the "Magnum Dog," courtesy of The Clevelander. It should come as no surprise that Duane Below was doomed to a poor relief outing. He allowed three earned runs in just one inning pitched. Frank Eats Sushi Who knew that eating seafood wouldn't bring favor to the Marlins? Worse yet, Frank did not enjoy any sake with his sushi. The baseball gods made clear their disapproval of Frank's transgression, giving the Phillies three consecutive infield hits to load the bases. i'll tell you what, it's really good. I've been eating good food tonight. - Frank Forte Everything quickly fell apart, as the Marlins suffered an old-fashioned bullpen meltdown. Ryan Webb's arm experienced an unforeseen power spike, generating a catastrophic core overload. His graphite moderator ignited, sending radioactive material all over the field. Combing over public records, I learned that a then five-year-old Ryan Howard hit a two-run single in a Tee Ball game during the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. He apparently applied his experience under Level 7 nuclear accidents to drive in two runs again last night. The sushi sent the Marlins into a downwards spiral from which they could not recover. Frank Eats Pizza It's common knowledge among nutritional connoisseurs that pizza portends decent fortune. Frank's stop at the pizza parlor came too late to alter the course of the game, however. Justin Ruggiano doubled in the ninth to score Rob Brantly, but Juan Pierre lined out immediately afterward, ending the rally. The Marlins went home defeated. Frank didn't help matters by refusing to eat the pork nachos again, which had previously enabled Jordan Brown to score Placido Polanco on a sacrifice fly. @lmhaydu already did pork nachos — Frank J. Forte (@FrankJForte) May 22, 2013 Frank Forte certainly got his full of Marlins Park. Was it to the benefit of the team? My analysis posits that his well-intentioned tour of the stadium vendors ultimately came at the expense of the ball-club, derailing Jose Fernandez's start, and leading to the disastrous bullpen implosion. The data is inconclusive, but

May 21, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez (16) during the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports The Marlins’ team winning streak against the Phillies was snapped at 3 games on Tuesday night as the Phillies beat the Fish 7-3. Miami had taken the first game of the series 5-1, and also won the last two games in which the teams squared off by a combined score of 16-2. Marlins starter Jose Fernandez was off his game, but still finished with a respectable line. The young righty gave up five hits, including a home run to Delmon Young, over his five innings of work. He walked one but struck out just two before being pulled after 79 pitches. When Fernandez was taken out of the game, the Marlins were down 1-0 and had the tying run on third base with one out in the fifth. Pinch hitter Jordan Brown plated the run, but unfortunately it took just ten pitches for reliever Duane Below to cough up the lead. Below ultimately gave up three earned runs, as Ryan Webb allowed his two inherited runners to score. Webb then gave up two of his own runs, ending his scoreless inning steak at 17 1/3, the sixth-longest ever by a Marlins reliever. Worth noting is that Fernandez had just three swing-and-miss strikes all game, which is one reason for his low strikeout total. Despite his stuff being off, he was able to work the Phillies hitters effectively. In 17 innings against the Phillies this season, Fernandez has struck out 16 and allowed just 1 run on 8 hits. Up next: The Marlins will try to take the rubber game as Cliff Lee faces off against Kevin Slowey.