Miami Marlins demote relief pitcher

The Miami Marlins are going through a terrible losing streak. Is there still a chance for The Fish to make the playoffs? The team keeps making changes, but are they going to make the difference? This time it's a recently brought in relief pitcher. Who is it? Lefty relief pitcher Devin Smeltzer. Smeltzer was recently designated for assignment, and went unclaimed on waivers. As a result, Kim Ng outrighted him to AAA Jacksonville.

The Miami Marlins demoted relief pitcher Devin Smeltzer to the Minor Leagues.

Devin Smeltzer is a 27 year old lefty relief pitcher, who debuted in 2019 with the Minnesota Twins. He delivered a 3.86 ERA/4.58 FIP, with 7.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 11 games (6 starts) in 49.0 innings pitched. It was a solid debut, and he was worth 0.8 WAR that year. In the shortened 2020 season, he followed that up with a 6.75 ERA/4.07 FIP, with 8.4 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 7 games (1 start) in 16.0 innings pitched. The strikeout and walk rates looked solid, and the FIP was an improvement, though the ERA was clearly very disappointing.

In 2021, he had a 0.00 ERA/3.81 FIP, with 6.8 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in a game and 4.1 innings pitched. This was way too short of a sample size to judge anything based on. In 2022, he had a 3.71 ERA/5.23 FIP, with 5.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 15 games (12 starts) and 70.1 innings pitched. This was pretty poor, so it certainly looks like Minnesota no longer had any major plans for Smeltzer in their future.

Devin Smeltzer moved on to the Miami Marlins this season, and so far has a 5.79 ERA/6.97 FIP, with 7.2 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 8 games (1 start) and 18.2 innings pitched. I'm not impressed by the ERA or its underlying FIP, but the strikeouts to walk rate looks very promising. He's still young enough to be productive, and perhaps even find a way to take a step forward. I expect him back up at some point, and hopefully he will improve at that time as well.