Edward Cabrera makes first spring start, Marlins fall

JUPITER, FL—Right-hander Edward Cabrera, coming off an uneven season, had been the subject of many trade rumors throughout the winter. Miami's strong starting pitching depth and the fact that he's out of minor league options made him a popular candidate to be dealt. Ultimately, it looks like he will stay with Miami for now where he will compete for a rotation spot this spring, and he made great first impression in Wednesday's loss. 

Cabrera was solid in his two innings of work. He threw 31 pitches, 20 of them for strikes. He struck out two and walked none. "My mentality right now is that it doesn't matter which pitch I'm throwing; it just has to be a strike," said Cabrera through a translator. His fastball velocity sat in the mid 90s and he showed off his low 90s changeup a few times. 

His final line: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 SO, 0 BB. 

"Fastball command was really good, didn't throw too many curveballs. But overall, really good," said manager Skip Schumaker postgame. "He came in more physical than last year and that shows you how hard he worked."

The 25-year-old has been a polarizing name since debuting in 2021. Coming up through the minors, the former top prospect elicited comparisons to ace Sandy Alcantara due their size, stuff, and early control issues. Alcantara, however, was able to hone his command quickly and become a Cy Young Award winner. The Marlins are hoping Cabrera can follow in his teammate's footsteps, but the organization might run out of patience soon. 

In 197.2 career innings pitched, Cabrera has a respectable 4.01 ERA, but has allowed 5.4 walks per nine innings. In August of 2023, he was demoted to Triple-A Jacksonville to work on his control. 

According to Baseball Savant, among 139 pitchers to face at least 400 batters in 2023, only Michael Kopech (15.4%) walked a larger percentage of batters than Cabrera's 15.2%, placing him in the first percentile in BB-rate.

"He had an up-and-down season [in 2023]. For us, he ended really well, though. He had one great start in Milwaukee and then came home and was as dominant as you can get; so I think building off that is key, and I think our communication in the off-season was letting him know that his stuff is as good as anybody's," Schumaker added. "He had a chance to take a deep breath and relax and understand that he can literally 'out-talent' a lot of hitters with just stuff. Nobody has a 93 mph changeup."

Tanner Scott and Andrew Nardi make first spring appearances

The two arms that figure to anchor the back end of Miami's bullpen made their spring debuts on Wednesday afternoon, and neither went the way they would have liked. 

Scott started the third inning and only recorded two outs. He allowed three hits, a walk, and four earned runs (Eli Villalobos allowed two inherited runners to score). "Today is not exactly how I wanted it to go, but I know I'll get better. I was talking to Christian [Bethancourt], and the stuff looked good," said Scott following his outing. His fastball topped out at 97.3 mph. 

Nardi, the man expected to set up Scott in the regular season also recorded only two outs. He allowed three men to reach via an error, walk, and a hit by pitch. His velocity was also down by his standards, sitting from 90-93 mph. "Gotta work on my slider a bit. Didn't [throw] my splitter yet, unfortunately. I don't take [the first few outings] too seriously. Just trying to get my feet under me," said the left-hander. 

What's next?

Miami will travel to Tampa on Thursday to face the New York Yankees. Per manager Skip Schumaker, shortstop Tim Anderson is "penciled in" the lineup for the 6:35 pm contest. All-Star Luis Arraez is also expected to make the trip. 

LHP Ryan Weathers will get the start for Miami and will be followed by Max Meyer. "Great to get eyes on him. I know he's going to have some adrenaline going," said Skip on the former third overall pick. "He missed a full year, so it might be challenging with the pitch clock. I've never seen him until this year so I'm pumped to see what it looks like."