Miami Marlins: A Look at the Farm
A+ Jupiter – RHP, Jorge Guzman
One of the most electric fastballs in all of baseball resides in the hands of Jorge Guzman. The 22-year-old native of the Dominican Republic has a fastball that sits from 97-103 MPH. So far through 8 starts in 2018, Guzman is pitching to a 2.21 ERA. With that being said, his underlying metrics point to a pitcher that is struggling to find consistency.
His xFIP (Expected Fielding Independent Pitching) sits at 5.40 which is signaling that his low ERA can be attributed to luck. Looking at his strikeout and walk numbers, there is some truth to his xFIP.
He is struggling to miss bats with only a 6.87 K/9 rate and is allowing too many free passes with a 6.36 BB/9 rate. These numbers are expected to level out throughout the season for Guzman. Last year, Guzman struck out 11.88 per nine and only walked 2.43 per nine in Low-A for the Yankees.
Guzman has the stuff and personality to be the next ace of this Miami Marlins staff. Guzman is continuing to get outs despite his lower-than-expected whiff rate. Once Guzman irons out his command issues, he will be able to show Fish fans everywhere what they are waiting for.