6-10-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
On to game two after an offensive explosion by the Pirates with another Marlins starting pitcher still reeling from Tommy John. Sandy Alcantara will toe the rubber as he tries to get things right but it’s a season that has been going so very wrong.
Among all MLB pitchers with at least 50 innings this season, Alcantara ranks dead last in ERA (7.89) with career-low strikeout rate (16.5%) and career-high walk rates (11.5%).
The Pirates opened the season against Alcantara, when he allowed 2 runs off 2 hits and 4 walks through 4.2 innings of work while striking out 7 on March 27th.
Alcantara has lasted six innings in a start only twice this season and has yet to allow less than 2 runs in an outing. And, in a somewhat small sample size, Sandy has struggled even more outside of Miami with righties posting an OPS of .960 against the former Cy Young winner while lefties have an astronomical 1.209 OPS in these situations.
Granted, two of his away games were against the Phillies and Dodgers which heavily inflated these numbers; however, he also allowed 4 runs in 5.2 innings against the White Sox and 6 runs in 5.1 frames at the Angels so it’s not just the big boppers batting around.
The 29-year old Marlin still has his velocity as he has ramped his fastball to 100 at times this season but it has been very ineffective overall. He mixes the 4-seam/sinker combo with a low-90s changeup, mid-80s curve and high-80s slider with only the sinker rating with positive run value (+4).
Against lefties, Alcantara has mostly used his changeup/4-seam with the other three offerings mixed in to a lesser extent. Opponents have done pretty well against the changeup as left handed hitters are batting .259 against the offering but his 4-seam has been flat and is getting hit at a .364 clip with .667 SLG and 97.7 MPH average exit velocity in these matchups.
Right handed hitters are getting a heavy dose of fastballs with the sinker down and 4-seam upstairs with movement so just stay on the hard stuff and watch for the sinking movement to stay under the ball.
Final thing to keep in mind: No one in MLB has allowed more stolen bases than Alcantara – and it’s not even close as opponents are 22-for-22 in stolen base attempts against the Miami starter.
So basically, if you get a fastball in the zone, attacked it. If you don’t get a fastball, take the walk and then steal second – and who knows, maybe third too while you’re at it because the Pirates know what it’s like to get beaten while you’re down but they have to take advantage of being on the other side of that tonight.
Steel City Pirates 