Miami Marlins: Why Anthony Bender Should Receive More Opportunities

The Miami Marlins bullpen has had it’s fair share of moments of both success and not so much so far this season.

There however has been one Miami Marlins relief pitcher in particular that has been outstanding up to this point. If you were to simply look at the individual stats of relievers in the Marlins bullpen, the one thing that would 100% catch your eye would be the perfect 0.00 ERA of Anthony Bender.

Bender, a 26-year old relief pitcher, signed with Miami as a free agent this past offseason. Having never pitched in the major leagues before this season, Bender has been one of the most exciting stories of the 2021 Miami Marlins.

Bender has appeared in 15 games so far this season for Miami where he has pitched 14.1 innings. As mentioned previously, Bender sports a perfect 0.00 ERA during that time with 18 K’s and only 4 BB’s.

The Miami Marlins should give Anthony Bender more opportunities.

Now obviously he receives opportunities, but this in particular is about receiving more opportunities in either late-innings or high-leverage situations.

Bender has primarily been used so far in arguably low-leverage situations where the Marlins either have a sizable lead or are down by a substantial amount. As mentioned previously, Bender has been outstanding in those opportunities leaving some fans wondering whether or not he should receive more work in higher-leverage innings.

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Now should he receive save opportunities? Not necessarily. Yimi Garcia appears locked-in as the Marlins closer, and hasn’t done anything to relinquish that role converting 10 of 13 save opportunities to combine with a 2.63 ERA.

What about the set-up role? Manager Don Mattingly has primarily used Dylan Floro in the eighth inning, and aside from one-to-two outings has been lights-out. While it would be nice to see Bender get some looks in this role eventually, the seventh inning seems to be a prime opportunity to begin.

Miami has used multiple relievers in this role over the course of the season so far, many of which have an ERA north of 3+. Would Bender not be an arguable upgrade, or the same as them?

It is hard to eventually not give some of these late-inning opportunities to Bender given the way that he continues to pitch this season. No, he doesn’t have to save games, but this is a clear “quick fix” for a Marlins bullpen that has struggled at times in the late-innings this season.

The Marlins need to play better baseball going forward, and one of those areas is in the bullpen. Miami certainly appears so far to have “struck gold” by signing Bender in the offseason, but need to put the man with a perfect 0.00 ERA in bigger situations to find out if they may have something even better than it already appears.