Marlins’ pitchers impress scout — hitters not so much
With the Marlins’ regular season beginning Thursday, we solicited the views of a longtime big-league scout who has watched the Marlins a lot this spring. Some of his feedback:
On pitcher Sandy Alcantara: “With his stuff, he could be a one [No. 1 starter] one day. He looked better to me this spring despite [the control issues]. They’ve done a nice job with him. Control is a concern with young kids, but he’s got enough stuff that he can pitch around some of it.”
On pitcher Pablo Lopez: “He’s the most impressive of their group of young pitchers so far. Totally different from Alcantara in that he throws strike after strike. Has a much more advanced feel for pitching. And his stuff isn’t that far behind Alcantara’s.”
On pitcher Trevor Richards: “He’s a back-end rotation guy for me, but he’s their best pitcher as far as fielding the position. He throws strikes, locates, can navigate his way through a lineup; doesn’t panic. He’s polished. Needs to develop secondary stuff” beyond his fastball and excellent changeup.
On outfielder Lewis Brinson: “He’s made some improvement, but I’m still skeptical about whether he will hit breaking balls. Once the season starts, he’s not going to get the fastballs he’s been getting this spring . ... This could be the worst outfield in baseball” with Brinson, Garrett Cooper, Curtis Granderson and Rosell Herrera.
On Peter O’Brien and Austin Dean (who were both sent to the minors) and Cooper (expected to start in right field): “O’Brien hits them to the moon in batting practice, but will strike out a ton in games [54 in 153 big-league plate appearances]. … Cooper plays hard and I know he’s hit [in the minors], but I haven’t seen anything to make me excited. If he was on a contender, he would be in the minors. Dean is a decent left fielder, gritty, has a workable swing. His swing is short enough as opposed to O’Brien’s.
The scout wasn’t sure how much Granderson has left but “he’s going to have value around their young players” as far as instilling habits and work ethic.
On catcher Jorge Alfaro: “He’s going to be fine, one of the elite throwers in baseball. There’s upside there offensively, and he’s got legitimate power.”
On third baseman Brian Anderson: “Best player they’ve got hands down. Future All-Star. Everything impresses me about him — his approach from the offensive side, he’s smart, a competitor, runs good for a big guy, a plus defender at third.”
On minor-league second base prospect Isan Diaz, who figures to replace Starlin Castro in 2020 if he’s ready: “There’s potential offensively, but very sketchy defender right now. It should be his job” to lose after Castro’s contract expires this fall.
On minor-league outfield prospect Monte Harrison: “Super athletic; plus defender; plus runner. But he’s going to strike out another 800 times in the minors before he figures it out. I’m skeptical whether he’ll be able to [hit big-league pitching]. Guys that don’t have a history of hitting [for average] in the minor leagues, [remember] the pitching doesn’t get easier up here.”
Harrison is a career .242 hitter in the minors with 52 homers and 197 RBI in 462 games.
On the Marlins’ rebuild: “I like the young pitching, but they’re going to have trouble scoring runs. One thing going against them is the National League East is the best division in baseball, no question. The Mets and Washington young staffs will eat those young hitters alive. That’s 36 times they’re going to be going against those staffs — [Jacob] DeGrom, [Zach] Wheeler ,[ Noah] Syndergaard ,[ Max] Scherzer, [Stephen] Strasburg.
“From the big-picture [perspective], I like what they’re doing, how they’re going about scouting now, the improvement they’ve made in their technology. They are reinvesting in international signings. But you’re fooling yourselves if you think this will come together [quickly].”
CHATTER
Though the Dolphins have invited a bunch of UM prospects to audition for them on April 5, defensive tackle Gerald Willis hasn’t accepted and isn’t sure if he will. The Cowboys are the only team scheduled to bring Willis to their headquarters before the draft, and coincidentally, Dallas defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli ran UM’s Pro Day defensive line workouts Monday and talked to Willis afterward.
Though the Dolphins have conveyed to Minkah Fitzpatrick that they view him as a safety long term, they’re still not ready to publicly commit to whether he will play safety or corner next season. “He’s a guy we spent a lot of time thinking about how we’re going to use him,” coach Brian Flores said Tuesday.
D.J. Scaife said Tuesday that UM has told him he will play left tackle — not right. One reason, we’re told, is that Butler transfer Tommy Kennedy hasn’t impressed. … In HBO’s profile of Manny Diaz that aired Tuesday, Diaz’s grandmother reveals he knows only two words in Spanish — grandmother and grandfather.
The Heat’s Dion Waiters and James Johnson said they’ve been playing better because they’ve distanced themselves from major surgeries in 2018 — Waiters’ ankle and Johnson’s sports hernia.
“Six weeks ago is not even close to where I’m at right now with my ability to do the things I was used to doing,” Johnson said. But Waiters, who’s averaging a career-high 2.1 three-pointers per game but has begun driving to the basket a bit more, said: “My explosion is still not where I want it to be.”