Marlins Spring Training Journal: Live BP begins immediately; Cal Quantrill joins rotation

JUPITER, FL—First-year Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough and his ballclub got it going on Wednesday with pitchers and catchers officially reporting to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. "The energy and the vibes around here for those who have been coming to the complex and working out the last few weeks has been great," McCullough said. "There's a ton of optimism within that clubhouse."

One difference this first day was that bullpens weren't in the usual spot. Instead, McCullough and his staff threw the pitchers into the fire to face live hitters. The decision was made with the input of Marlins player development.

"It's the same practice as they would've gotten in the bullpen," McCullough said. "Like they have their focus on what they're trying to accomplish in that setting, just in a different environment with some hitters in the box. You hope that makes it a little bit more game like, more representative of the environment they'll be in the game...It just provides a better opportunity for both our pitchers and hitters to train. The pitchers are going to have a set directive of what they're trying to accomplish in that setting, no different than they would if they were throwing a normal bullpen. It's just going to be just constructed in a slightly different manner."

"I think that was a great idea," Sandy Alcantara told the media. "It came from our pitching coach (Daniel Moskos) and we are doing something different this year to be more aggressive with our command." Alcantara threw 21 pitches on Wednesday.

Having spent the past year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, staying healthy is understandably Alcantara's goal. "Just go out there, give my 100% and go deep into games."

One message that Moskos gave Alcantara was to "go easy." For someone like Alcantara, a competitor, that's hard for him to do. "When you have a batter in there your adrenaline goes up and everybody changes, so today was only half of me because I am trying to control it."

Valente Bellozo, Adam Mazur, Robby Snelling and Lake Bachar also threw live BP on Wednesday.

Another name that stood out despite not throwing was Max Meyer who is coming off a season where he posted a 5.68 ERA and 5.90 FIP through 57 innings. Meyer added a sweeper and sinker to his arsenal, which already included a fastball, slider and changeup.

"Very excited for Max," said McCullough. "He's won our pitching staff over throughout this offseason. As they began their communication with him and laid out some areas of development for Max, they were very excited about how open he was to that, and not only being open to it, but also the way he showed some real signs and improvements. I think we're all confident that we'll see a better version of Max Meyer than what we saw last year."

All pitchers and catchers except for recently claimed Ronny Henriquez have reported to Jupiter, Florida. He is expected to arrive on Thursday along with the Marlins' brand new free agent signing, Cal Quantrill.

“He brings a lot of just proven ability to go out there and pitch every fifth day and get good results,” said Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix about Quantrill. “He's been very successful in his career, and he's somebody that we think is going to really slide well into our rotation.”

Injury-wise, the only player that is a bit behind is left-handed reliever Andrew Nardi, who is dealing with lower back inflammation. "He's just going to be behind the rest of the group right now," McCullough told the media.

Position players already present in camp include Deyvison De Los Santos, Derek Hill, Griffin Conine and Connor Norby.

Andrew Salas, who is 16, is in early minor league camp. Many other minor leaguers, including PJ Morlando, Dillon Head and Starlyn Caba, are also here early.

The Marlins hired former reliever Chi Chi González to be a bullpen catcher. González made three appearances for the team in 2023.

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