A Calendar of Surprises: Marlins Pitching

Thirty-three games into the 2008 MLB season, what have we learned? Greg Maddux continues his ascension in the All Time Wins list, looking at 350 and Randy Johnson is within 15 wins of the elusive 300 win plateau himself, certainly to become one of the last of this era to do so, only to refine his spot in the Hall of Fame and add to his plaque. These really can’t be called surprises, though, because anybody familiar with the game could see this coming a mile away.

However, if we take a closer look, we can see that the AL East lead is being stalked by the Tampa Bay Rays, a team who’ve struggled to be relevant since their conception. Their success has been largely due to the success of their bullpen. Cleveland’s Cliff Lee is suffering from a personality disorder; apparently he thinks he is now Sandy Koufax circa 1964, riding a 6-0 record and a 0.81 ERA.

But why are the Marlins, a team that was destined to be looking forward to small victories, such as youngsters developing and getting a high draft pick for their inevitable horrible finish in first place?

The Florida Marlins have lost 3 pitchers from their rotation, Sergio Mitre, Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez, respectively, but have maintained first place for a good part of this season. As a matter of fact, in the franchises young history, they’ve only had sole possession of first place in their division a whopping total of 101 days. April 5^th’s win over the Pirates was the first time we’ve been in first place since May 24, 2005.

A large part of the success is the direct result of the Marlins’ bullpen. LHP Renyel Pinto is sporting a mighty fashionably 0.76 ERA, and recently called up RHP Doug Waechter appears to be catching on to the fad with a similar 0.71 ERA. Justin Miller, Logan Kensing and closer Kevin Gregg all have ERAs below the 3.50 line too. Matt Lindstrom was also in the “Low ERA Fraternity” until his last game, in which he was removed due to injury.

The only aberration to the success has been former first-round draft pick Taylor Tankersley. Tank, though, has been used sparingly however, netting only 10 IP so far. Last season though, Tank had a similar slow start, to catch up and become a solid option later in the season.

In antithesis to the bullpen, success has been the minority in the rotation.

Mark Hendrickson – Who would have thought that when the Marlins acquired Mark Hendrickson this offseason, and subsequently made him opening day starter, that he would take to the role with such fervor. Mark Hendrickson leads all Marlins pitchers with 7 wins so far, and at time of print is second in IP to only…

Scott Olsen – Once a highly touted prospect in the Marlins system, a prospect so highly touted, star TOR OFer Alexis Rios was offered in order to get him. Olsen is now living up to the hype. Last year, the only attention Olsen received was of the negative variety, and of the physical nature. This year however, he’s taking his aggressions out on opposing hitters, sporting 7 wins and a 2.22 ERA.

Andrew Miller – If Scott Olsen had been cloned, but something went wrong in the process, it may have spawned Andrew Miller through his first 5 starts. The uber-pitching prospects who’d drawn comparisons to Randy Johnson while with the Tigers is still learning the fine art of pitching. As Marlins reliever Doug Waechter had said “Throwing a 90mph fastball with conviction is far less hittable than throwing a 90mph fastball without it.” These words are illustrative of Miller’s performances this year.

Ricky Nolasco – Ricky Nolasco easily has some of the most electric stuff of Marlins starters. When his curveball, fastball and changeup are all working, Nolasco can be as fun to watch as anyone in the bigs, however, getting 2-3 of those pitches working a night has been a problem for the young hurler. It seems as if he’s been pitching games with only one pitch an outing, and that simply won’t do for a major leaguer.

Burke Badenhop – Acquired in the DET/FLA blockbuster this offseason, Badenhop, or “Hopper” replaced Rick Vandenhurk who had his own struggles to start the season. It’s my take that if Derek Lowe and Greg Maddux produced an illegitimate son, his name would be Burke Badenhop. Relying on movement more than stuff, Badenhop records outs by having hitters bash the ball into the ground, or by having the ball perform a Reggie Bush-esque juke of the bat en route to the glove. His problems center on the ball either moving in then out of the strike zone for a ball, leading to walks, or the groundballs finding holes for hits. With only 5 starts this season, Hopper could prove to be valuable as he begins to rely more on his stuff, just as former Tiger organizational-mate Andrew Miller must.