Sandy Alcantara: Enter the New Sandman

Whenever Mariano Rivera came out of the Yankees bullpen to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman’ everyone in the ballpark knew what time it was -lights out. The Miami Marlins have a new Sandman in the form of RHP Sandy Alcantara and while there may be only passing similarities, Marlins fans are anxious to see what the new Sandman can do in 2022.

Sandy Alcantara: Meet the New Sandman

As the first part of the season has passed, Sandy Alcantara is laying down the tracks to his new walkout song and that song should simply be called Dominate. For example, in his Wednesday outing  against the  Washington Nationals, Alcantara threw for nine scoreless innings and now leads the majors in innings thrown (82 2/3) and the second lowest ERA in the Show with a paltry 1.61 average.

In case you watched the game live or on TV, Alcantara made a mark in the Marlins record books with the best pitching start  through the first 12 games in franchise history. Sandy Alcantara looks like a man on a mission since he’s only posted a 0.56 ERA in his last six outings while giving up on average of one earned run each game during the same time stretch. To cap off his early season stats, Alcantara has given up 24 hits while issuing eight walks to 46 punch outs. Baseball pundits have likened Alcantara’s early season success to no less than Jake Arrieta and Clayton Kershaw – two Cy Young Award winners and great company to be compared to indeed.

If those statistics don’t seem to satisfy your inner Sabermetrics appetite, then look at Wednesday night’s game to feed your baseball hunger. Through the first three innings, Alcantara threw with a 90.9 strike percentage which comes out to 30 strikes on 33 pitches. By the time his night was done, Alcantara threw 84 strikes out of a total of 105 pitches which is the best pitching effort to date this season in the MLB.

Sadly for Alcantara, all those statistics and history-making moments didn’t add up to one huge category – a starting win. Manager Don Mattingly pulled Alcantara at the end of a scoreless ninth inning.  No starting pitcher has recorded a single out in the tenth inning since Cliff Lee did it in 2012  -ten years ago.

For Sandy Alcantara, a dominant 6-2 record in 12 appearances this season with a total ERA of 1.61 and a WHIP of 0.94 is a telling statement that it’s time to allow him to become the first Marlins pitcher to start in an All-Star game. If he can stay healthy and keep producing, Sandy Alcantara is one of the key players who could lead the Marlins to a postseason date this October.