The All-Star from the Miami Marlins staff…if you had to pick one

The Miami Marlins are going to be sending two players to the All-Star Game, three participating in the mid-season festivities in total. None are pitchers.

…And with good reason. It’s no mystery that the Miami Marlins pitching has been downright awful this season. The pitching rotation has fluctuated wildly all year.

When the starting rotation was holding up its end of the deal, the bullpen couldn’t keep runs from crossing the plate. For as potent as the lineup has been, the pitching has been paltry. For most of the season, it’s been all famine, no feast for Miami Marlins pitchers.

Needless to say, it came as no surprise that the Fish won’t be represented at the mid-summer classic by one of their hurlers. But if you had to pick one to be there, which one would it be?

There are plenty of names to chose from. With the addition of Chris O’Grady to the starting rotation, 11 different pitchers will have made a start for Miami in the first half of the season. As a reminder, a starting rotation is typically comprised of five spots.

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Those names are: Dan Straily, Edinson Volquez, Jose Urena, Tom Koehler, Jeff Locke, Adam Conley, Wei-Yin Chen, Justin Nicolino, Vance Worley, and Odrisamer Despaigne. Quite a ragtag group, if I say so myself.

Of those players, only four have made double-digit starts this season. Of those four, only three are currently on the roster. And of those three, only one has been in the rotation the entire season. That narrows it down quite a bit, doesn’t it?

Dan Straily is the only player currently on the Miami Marlins roster who has stayed in the starting rotation the entire season. If you had to select an All-Star from a mostly dying bunch of vegetables, it’d probably be him.

Options are limited

In all fairness, Straily has pitched very well this season. In his 18 starts, Straily has thrown 103.1 innings and managed a 7-4 record. His ERA is the lowest on the team at 3.31, and his WHIP, and BB9 are team bests as well.

If there is a case to be made for someone else, the only reasonable case to be made is for Jose Urena. The right-hander, who began the season in the bullpen has now made 12 starts this season. He’s been impressive, and has likely earned his place in the rotation beyond 2017.

Urena is still on 25 years old, and his 1.040 years of MLB service time means that he’ll be a Miami Marlins pitcher for years to come. Urena finally appears to be figuring out the league in 2017.

With Straily leading in nearly every statistical category for Miami Marlins pitchers, Urena’s totals regularly rank second. His ERA sits at 3.43, and his good for a 7-3 record. WHIP and BB9? Second in those totals as well.

Next: Who the heck is Chris O'Grady?

With Urena and Straily, the Marlins have two pitchers in their rotation that they can justifiably build around in 2018. They combine to make an average 2-3 in the rotation, or one of the best 3-4’s in baseball.

With a number of free agents pithcers set to hit the open market at the end of the season, the Marlins rotation could look very different in 2018. Volquez will remain under contract for another season as well. They could make up the entirety of the viable holdovers to next season.