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Miami Marlins 2020 Opening Day: The Starting Rotation

By Kevin Kraczkowski

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Sandy Alcantara #22 of the Miami Marlins pitches during the first inning of their game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 24, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Sandy Alcantara #22 of the Miami Marlins pitches during the first inning of their game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 24, 2019 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Miami Marlins
MIAMI, FL – SEPTEMBER 22: Pablo Lopez #49 of the Miami Marlins throws a pitch during the second inning against the Washington Nationals at Marlins Park on September 22, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images) /

I’m calling these three pitchers the “70 percenters” because that’s approximately the odds I believe that they’ll each start the 2020 season in the Miami Marlins rotation.

Pablo López

As already stated, it was a tale of two seasons for López. Solid through the first half, then right off a cliff for the second. Luckily for him, the Miami Marlins likely believe that what they saw through the last month and a half of 2019 from López was an aberration.

Lopez led the starters in 2019 with a FIP of 4.28, which is suggestive that he was somewhat better than his 5.09 ERA would indicate. He should have another full season to prove it.

Miami Marlins
MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 21: Jordan Yamamoto #50 of the Miami Marlins delivers a pitch against the Washington Nationals during the second inning at Marlins Park on September 21, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Jordan Yamamoto

Yamamoto was considered a “throw-in” by the Milwaukee Brewers in the trade that made Christian Yelich an ex-Miami Marlins center fielder.

Although Yamamoto walked a too few many, 4.1 per nine innings, his 1.144 WHIP would have registered as the best mark from amongst the starters if he had pitched a few more innings. Yamamoto only surrendered 54 hits in 78 2/3 innings for a .191/.292/.355 opposing slashline. His 15 starts yielded a 4-5 record and a 4.46 ERA overall.

Yamamoto made headlines by starting out his major league career by not surrendering a run until his third start. He had racked up a dozen strikeouts and allowed only five hits over his first 14 innings, and didn’t allow more than three hits in a game until his sixth start. In his final start of the season, he struck out 10 in six innings of one hit ball to defeat the New York Mets, 4-2.

Miami Marlins
MIAMI, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 10: Elieser Hernandez #57 of the Miami Marlins delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Marlins Park on September 10, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Elieser Hernández

Elieser Hernández was leaps and bounds better in 2019 than in the season prior. He dropped his WHIP from 1.447 to 1.239 and increased his K-rate from 6.2 to 9.3.

In his second major league season since being selected in the rule 5 draft prior to the 2018 season, Hernández went 3-5 with a 5.03 ERA and struck out 85 in 82 1/3 innings, also trimming his walk rate from 3.7 down to 2.8. He’s currently got the inside track on a rotation spot, but he’s not set-in-stone either.

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