Sandy Alcantara, Deyvison De Los Santos discuss spring training debuts

[Kevin Barral]

JUPITER, FL—On Sunday afternoon, Sandy Alcantara and the Miami Marlins took the field at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium for the first time in 2026. It would take three hours and 41 minutes for them to finally leave the field. In what should wind up being one of the longest and highest-scoring games of Marlins spring training, the Nationals defeated them by a final score of 16-8.

 

Sandy Alcantara still working through new sweeper

Alcantara cruised through the Grapefruit League in 2025, allowing zero earned runs through five starts. The process won't be as smooth this time around—in his lone inning of work against Washington, he threw 28 pitches, allowing three runs on two hits (one home run), walked one and struck out one.

The right-hander called his first start "frustrating," saying he thought it would go much better. A big offseason development for him was adding a sweeper, but that pitch failed him on Sunday when Brady House took one deep for a three-run homer.

"It was a two-strike count and I was trying to throw my best sweeper ever," Alcantara said following his start. "Just left it in the middle and when you miss, you pay."

Although Alcantara has been throwing his sweeper for months in bullpen and pitch design sessions, that doesn't compare to a game environment. He admitted that he doesn't fully trust it.

"I think it's about consistency, but I have to keep improving, throwing a couple more bullpens, but everything will be good."

The Marlins used 10 pitchers in relief of Alcantara: Lake Bachar, Brayan Mendoza, Tyler Zuber, Evan McKendry, Liomar Martínez, Justin King, Samuel Vasquez, RJ Shunck, Dale Stanavich and Jake Walkinshaw. As a group, the pitching staff walked 13 hitters and threw eight wild pitches.

 

New bats on the block

The Marlins' starting outfield was comprised entirely of offseason acquisitions: Esteury Ruiz (acquired from Dodgers) in left, Dillon Lewis (Yankees) in center and Owen Caissie (Cubs) in right. In two plate appearances apiece, Caissie struck out twice and so did Lewis, while Ruiz worked two walks.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Brendan Jones (Yankees) hit the club's first home run of the spring. In that same inning, prospect Ethan O'Donnell (Reds) hit a grand slam.

"I think that's the great part about spring training," said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "There are so many players in our camp that have come through the system or that we've acquired recently earn an opportunity and to have them in camp, give them some opportunity to run and play a little bit. Certainly, there are a lot of players in here that in the near future we're counting on to be able to come up and help us in Miami."

 

"Different" Deyvison De Los Santos

The lone Marlin to have a multi-hit performance thus far has been Fish On First's No. 28 prospect, Deyvison De Los Santos. He finished the day with two singles, the second driving in Liam Hicks.

De Los Santos is coming off a disappointing season in Triple-A, slashing .240/.313/.359/.672 with 12 home runs, 54 RBI and an 85 wRC+. This was after a 40-homer season in 2024.

This past offseason, De Los Santos went to the Dominican Winter League with the Gigantes del Cibao. In 44 games, he slashed .309/.365/.475/.840 with five home runs and 28 RBI.

When FOF asked De Los Santos what he worked on this offseason, it wasn't anything mechanical or even baseball-related—it was on the mental side.

“I’d say what I need to improve is my mindset and my maturity," De Los Santos said in Spanish. "I focused on that, I matured, and that’s what I’m applying here.”

McCullough after the game spoke on how De Los Santos has carried himself and described it as "seeing a different Deyvison," noting he's the first one at the Jupiter Academy every day and he's "putting his hard hat on and going to work."

 

Quick notes

- Sandy Alcantara is expected to make just one more spring training start before he joins the Dominican Republic for the World Baseball Classic.

- Free agent signings Chris Paddack and John King are expected to make their spring debuts this week.

- The expectation is that Janson Junk (Grade 1 right ankle sprain) will work off a mound at some point this upcoming week.

- On MLB Network Radio, McCullough said Marlins pitchers have NOT been given permission to challenge pitches. Only the catcher.

 

What's next?

The Marlins remain in Jupiter Monday afternoon as they play visitor to the St. Louis Cardinals with Eury Pérez starting the game and Max Meyer will follow him. They will throw just one inning each. First pitch is at 1:10 pm and this game will be televised on Cardinals.TV and MLB Network. You can listen to it on MLB.com.

View full article

[One Regend]

Today has to be a frustrating day if you're Joe Mack. He prides himself on defense, and there's 8 Wild Pitches on the day, 3 of which happened under his watch.

But what today does mean is, I now have even more questions about Liam Hicks as a catcher. It's bad enough that he has a bad poptime, something that's already a death sentence for defensive catchers, but if he cant block pitches effectively, he has no business being there. Considering his paltry bat, this isn't good for his outlook.

I get some of those Wild Pitches were beyond their control, but this is an extremely discouraging game for guys trying to win the Catcher spot. I would've stomached a 16 run blowout loss if it meant our guys were doing their job defensively, but so far, I have more questions about our catchers than answers.

[2qbn]

I'm pulling so hard for DLS. Make it easy on the skipper and take the 1B job. Sorry, Morrell and Conine. At least they can play OF. :)

[1993 fan from start]

the game never show up on tv . try to watch it. 

Rod Allen gone from tv side of things bad

[Jose Herrera]

@1993 fan from start At least Tommy Sutton is doing home games, but yeah I was sad to hear about Rod Allen. He has good insight and is super chill.

[Rob V]

3 hours ago, 1993 fan from start said:

Rod Allen gone from tv side of things bad

I noticed Rod is the odd man out and has been taken out of the booth for 2026. This is very disappointing as his knowledge of the game history and players past and present has always been very enjoyable to listen to in my opinion. Big mistake by the Fish as he runs circles around the still learning Minervini when it comes to doing color commentary. Hutton, Gaby and Nelson are good but none have the style and swagger of a Rod Allen and he will be wasted for sure in his new limited role. Expect to see him move on somewhere where his talents as a color analyst are appreciated. Keep your head up Rod as us Miami Fans got your back. Thumbs down Fish! 👎