Miami Marlins: 5 Most Impactful Players so far of the 2021 Season

4. Miami Marlins SP Pablo Lopez

There is absolutely no question that the Miami Marlins “Big 3” in the starting rotation has been nothing short of dominant. The one player in that trio that you could make the argument has been vastly underrated is Pablo Lopez.

Lopez currently displays a 1-3 record with a career-low 2.73 ERA through his first 10 starts of the season. Looking at his numbers and production so far in 2021 a little deeper however, it’s clear that Lopez is on track for the best season of his career.

Lopez currently ranks 17th in all of baseball in terms of starting pitchers ERA, and is second among all Marlins pitcher in WAR at 1.7.

When looking at Lopez’s individual starts themselves, aside from two bad-outings where he allowed 6 ERs against the Braves and Diamondbacks, he has allowed 2 ERs or less in 8 of his starts. In fact, in half of Lopez’s starts this season, he has not allowed an earned run at all.

It’s clear that Lopez is having a career season so far, building off a solid 2020 season in which he pitched just about the same sample size as he has so far in 2021. Will the success for Pablo continue? That remains to be seen.

What is known however is Lopez is continuing to develop into one of the more underrated pitchers in the game. If he continues at this rate, he might just be arguably one of the best #3 pitchers in the rotation in all of baseball.