Miami Marlins in Action: Four Observations Against Washington

The Miami Marlins dropped a 5-4 decision to the Washington Nationals on Friday afternoon.

At 1:09 P.M. EST, last season’s Miami Marlins strikeout leader, Trevor Richards, delivered the first pitch of the game to Nats leadoff hitter, shortstop Trea Turner (it was a ball). Two hours and 50 minutes of 81º weather later, Gabriel Guerrero flew out to right field with a man on second and down by a run to end things.

In between those two events, the Miami Marlins and the Washington Nationals played a nine inning game of organized baseball. It’s Spring Training, however, so the result doesn’t really matter as much as the actual play. Here’s four things that stood out.

Hector Noesi Has Had Better Days

Hector Noesi has five major league seasons to his credit, and spent the last three seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization.

While pitching for the Kia Tigers, Noesi racked up a 35-10 record and a 3.44 ERA over 64 starts, so he’s obviously still got some stuff. In his first appearance this spring, he faced eight batters and allowed a walk and a solo homer. Today’s exhibition was slightly less palatable.

Noesi surrendered three homers in 2 2/3 innings against the Nationals, giving up four runs in total on six hits. He also collected three strikeouts, but four homers given up every five innings is not a sustainable rate. Noesi also made an error in the field to exarcebate his situation. There’s still 23 games left in Spring Training, so look for Noesi to get more chances to put up better numbers.

The Miami Marlins Other Pitchers Had A Pretty Good Day

Trevor Richards allowed two first inning walks to start things out, then got Brian Dozier swinging at the changeup to escape the jam. In the second inning, Nats catcher Yan Gomes hit the first homer of the day.

Richards settled down after that, collecting a pair of strikeouts and not allowing another baserunner through his three innings. It was the longest outing of the spring thus far for any Miami Marlins pitcher.

Later, Riley Ferrell pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only a hit. Jarlin Garcia collected a pair of strikeouts in his inning of scoreless relief, like Ferrell allowing only a hit. Jose Quijada pitched a perfect ninth to redeem himself a little for his fiasco against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Sunday, striking out two.

More good than bad to see here. Ferrell looks like a keeper, and Quijada should also stick with the mothership when the Marlins break camp.

Magneuris Sierra’s Bat Woke Up

Magneuris Sierra started in right field and batted ninth in this contest. Just one-for-10 coming into this game, Sierra only hit .190 in his Miami Marlins debut through the last part of last season. We all know he’s fast, but he hasn’t been very effective at getting to first base.

In today’s game, Sierra singled in the third inning and led off with a successful bunt-for-hit in the sixth. He then further demonstrated some of that much-balleyhooed speed by easily swiping second base, advancing to third on a passed ball, then scoring on an Isan Diaz single.

Today’s outing raised Sierra’s spring average from .100 to .250. If this guy can hit .250 (and learn how to take some pitches), we may be in business.

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J.T. Riddle’s Bat Hasn’t

JT Riddle is a career .239 hitter at the major league level for the Miami Marlins, but we’ve always kind of thought he could do better. He hasn’t showed it yet this spring. Riddle has gone 0-for-10 with a pair of strikeouts, although he has got to first base twice by drawing bases-on-balls. Look for Riddle to continue to get decent chances to get rolling.

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