Miami Marlins Rotation in Flux as Andrew Heaney Promotion Looms
By Ehsan Kassim
Already without staff ace Jose Fernandez for the rest of the season due to Tommy John Surgery, the Marlins rotation will be put to the test this upcoming week.
The Miami Marlins have Tom Koehler as their scheduled starter for Tuesday night’s opener in Texas. After that, the Miami Marlins rotation has question marks up and down.
With off days today and Wednesday, the Marlins have Jacob Turner is slated to start on Wednesday and Nathan Eovaldi on Friday. That could change as well, as Nathan Eovaldi and his wife are expected to have their first child soon:
"Jacob Turner is listed as Wednesday’s starter, and he threw his normal between-starts bullpen Sunday. But manager Mike Redmond also told reporters that Eovaldi could start on Wednesday depending on the status of his wife, who is expecting their first child. With the off day, Eovaldi would be pitching on normal rest if he goes Wednesday, even though he would vault in front of Turner."
Henderson Alvarez left Sunday’s game early due to a hip injury. His injury was sustained due to a terrible flip to first from first baseman Garrett Jones. The good news is that the Marlins likely dodged a bullet in terms of a serious injury to Alvarez.
Alvarez’s situation will be monitored, but he is expected to make his next scheduled start.
The Marlins also have the impending promotion of top prospect Andrew Heaney. At this point, it seems that we have already passed the Super-2 deadline, so the Marlins can promote Heaney when they believe him to be major league ready.
And at this point, it’s hard not to believe Heaney is ready to pitch in the minors. Here are his pitching numbers between Double A and Triple-A this season:
[table id=45 /]
After dominating Double-A, the Marlins deemed they had seen enough and decided to give Heaney a chance to face more seasoned hitters at the highest minor league level. At that level, he has been his normal dominant self.
And if you take out his outlier start against Colorado Springs Sky Sox, who play in a very hitter friendly park, Heaney has been even more dominant. In that game, Heaney pitched six innings, and allowed 5 earned runs on 11 hits. Removing that start drops Heaney’s ERA all the way down to 1.06.
That screams ready to me.
If Heaney is poised to make his MLB debut some time this week, an estimation of either Saturday or Sunday sounds about right. Heaney is on the same pitching schedule as Randy Wolf, meaning his next start could come at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Heaney could easily slide into Wolf’s spot in the rotation and hit the ground running.
Or, he could fall into Sunday’s slot, taking over for Henderson Alvarez. This would be in the case that Alvarez has to miss any time with his injury he sustained on Sunday.
The Eovaldi’s are soon to be celebrating adding a new member to their family. The Miami Marlins are as well. Only difference, the Marllins are not likely going to have to change the diapers on their new addition.