Marlins News: The reason for optimism in Miami

Now that the MLB season is a week old, there is plenty of optimism in Miami because of the Marlins young core of pitchers on the roster.

Trevor Richards had yet another quality start for the Miami Marlins and once again, he was on the losing end of another outing. The Marlins fell to the New York Mets, 6-4, which gave Richards his first loss of the season. It wasn’t for a lack of effort.

The Marlins ran into Jacob deGrom, who pitched a gem in his second start of the season and helped himself at the plate with a home run of his own.

“On a night when Richards posted his second quality start of the year, deGrom scattered three hits and struck out a career-high 14 in seven innings,” Joe Frisaro of MLB.com wrote.

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Despite being swept by their NL East rivals, things are still looking up for the Marlins and this young pitching staff, which is why there is so much optimism for the future, according to a story on MLB.com of what we all have learned in the first week of the 2019 season.

Richards has some company in the rotation of pitchers to watch this year who should make a leap toward finding more success on the mound.

“The preseason optimism about the rotation might well have been justified. Sandy Alcantara was brilliant in his first start,” writes Mathew Leach. “Caleb Smith picked right up where he left off before an injury ended his 2018 season. Only Jose Urena has really struggled, and he’s probably the guy you’d worry the least about.”

I know we talk about it constantly, but the best part of this team is its pitching staff. The bullpen is still a work in progress, but that was to be expected with changes in personnel. There will be growing pains this season once again, but things are starting to look a lot better, especially in middle relief.

“Dating back to last season’s All-Star break, Tayron Guerrero issued six walks in 20 2/3 innings (entering Wednesday). He issued 25 in his previous 42 big league innings,” Leach added.

Richards curveball continues to be a thing of beauty and mystery. While it does not reflect it in the win column, he is proving to be a solid starter not just with the organization, but in the National League

Richards, who has thrown at least six innings and allowed three runs or fewer in four straight outings dating back to last season, kept his team within striking distance.

“Trevor keeps us in there, keeps us in the game,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Wednesday night’s performance. “We couldn’t really get anything going until the ninth.”

The Marlins have now lost three straight games and are 2-5 on this young season.