Miami Marlins: Two no-nos, comebacks for ex-Fins Alvarez, Volquez

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A general view of the home of the Miami Marlins, Marlins Park.(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Responsible for the last two no-hitters in Miami Marlins history, pitchers Henderson Alvarez and Edinson Volquez are both on the comeback trail.

Most MLB teams that had two pitchers throw no-hitters in the last seven years probably still have one of those arms on the roster. Then again, most MLB teams aren’t the Miami Marlins.

If for no other reason than making New York Mets fans miserable, one of my favorite factoids about the Miami Marlins remains the fact that in less than thirty years of existence, they have compiled a staggering six no-hitters. Quite the track record for that stretch of time. In fact, it’s more than the amount produced by MLB’s three other expansion teams (Colorado, Arizona, and Tampa) combined. And it’s much better than the solitary no-hitter churned out by the Mets in nearly sixty years of existence.

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But the thing with Miami Marlins no-hitters, ever since Kevin Brown was one hit batter away from perfection in 1997, is they tend to come out of nowhere.

If the average baseball fan were given six guesses to name the six Marlins to have pulled off the feat, they’d likely only end up naming up Brown. Maybe Al Leiter, who delivered the first, on account of his television career. Livan Hernandez, Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis, Jose Fernandez? Not a Marlin no-no among them. Josh Johnson came maddeningly close multiple times, but to no avail.

Instead, A.J. Burnett ended up becoming the poster boy of effectively wild in 2001 and makes every shortlist of ugliest no-hitters of all-time. Anibal Sanchez broke a two year MLB drought in 2006. Although, Burnett at least was regarded as an electric talent, and Sanchez was authoring a Rookie of the Year campaign for a team full of players making them.

The last two names to achieve the feat, some Marlins fans might even struggle with: Henderson Alvarez and Edinson Volquez.

Much of that mystery has a simple explanation: with the exception of 16 sporadic innings from Volquez, neither player has pitched in the majors since 2017.

However, both find themselves on the comeback trail as baseball finally resumes. In honor of these former Marlins, let’s take a brief look back at their somewhat forgotten no-hitters, their time in Miami, and where their comebacks stand heading into 2020.

Henderson Alvarez, a forgotten Miami Marlins All-Star.

The above photo from 2014 was supposed to become a regular sight in July for Miami Marlins fans. Unfortunately for the club and for Henderson Alvarez, that was not to be the case.

Instead, after a brilliant Opening Day start against the Atlanta Braves the next season, things went rapidly downhill. The dreaded elbow and shoulder soreness reports cropped up, and Alvarez managed only 15 more innings that season before surgery shut him down for good that July. By that point, two things had happened that sort of caused Alvarez to be lost in the shuffle.

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For one, the Alvarez injury was the first bump in the catastrophic train wreck that was the Marlins 2015 season. By the time Alvarez went under the knife, Giancarlo Stanton was out for the year and manager Mike Redmond had been replaced by a guy who hadn’t coached baseball above the high school level. The sky-high expectations 2015 had started with had crashed back down to earth with a resounding, but familiar, thud for winning starved Marlins fans.

Except for the fact that Jose Fernandez had finally returned from Tommy John surgery. Already pushing Stanton for face of the franchise status, his successful return to the mound made it official. With Fernandez back at the top of the rotation, Alvarez became somewhat forgettable.

Which had been the case since 2013. Alvarez was arguably the best story on the team, other than Fernandez’s Rookie of the Year campaign. However, it would be Alvarez that would turn in that season’s best, and weirdest, start. In the very last game of Miami’s third-worst season ever, Alvarez pitched Miami’s fifth no-hitter…which became official while he was standing in the on-deck circle. That’s right- tied 0-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Alvarez had a bat in his hands as the game ended.

The 2014 season was all Alvarez though. With Fernandez on the shelf, Alvarez was the staff ace for a Miami Marlins team that flirted with .500 all season long and made the All-Star team. By all indications, the Marlins had a fearsome 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation- or at least would by the time of the next All-Star Game.

As it turned out, he would just make four more starts in his Marlins career, and seven in the majors to this point.

Now? Alvarez just announced this week that he’s making yet another comeback attempt, this time in independent ball. He has made sporadic appearances in the Mexican leagues the last couple of seasons but is yet to impress enough to get another big league chance. If anything, he has become an unfortunate example of how not every pitcher can come back successfully from major surgery. Fingers crossed Alvarez can make the most of this chance- in a season like this one, a few promising starts might be just enough to warrant one of those precious 60-man player pool spots.

But what of the hurler behind Miami’s most recent no-hitter?

Edinson Volquez, the bizarrest part of a Miami Marlins bizarre 2017.

To say the 2017 Miami Marlins had a rollercoaster of a season would be an understatement.

Following the devastating loss of Fernandez the previous September, the team was kept together for one more shot at success. Many attempts were made to strengthen the roster, and make up for the loss of the staff ace. Some of these attempts were misguided, like trading promising prospect Luis Castillo for journeyman Dan Straily. Some made a bit more sense, like signing free-agent starter Edinson Volquez.

Unfortunately, the 2017 Miami Marlins got off to an extremely slow start, bottoming out at 16-29 before finally starting to play some winning baseball. By season’s end, most of that winning formula was tied to Stanton’s home run chase. But in late May, a stretch of four straight quality starts from Volquez was huge in sparking a modest turnaround. None obviously were more impressive than his no-hitter, a 10 K, 2 BB masterpiece that only took 98 pitches to complete. What made it all the more remarkable was the fact that he sustained an ankle injury in the first inning. Talk about a gutty performance. Only Brown’s was more dominant.

Six starts later, his Marlins career was over.

His next MLB appearance? That wouldn’t come until 2019, and injuries again limited his effectiveness. Now Volquez is back, cracking the Texas Rangers Opening Day roster. While it’s possible this could just be until rosters go back down to 26 players, there’s no question this has to feel great for the fifteen-year veteran. Curiously enough, it was with the Rangers that Volquez first started his big league career. It would seem more than fair to wonder if 2020 will serve as a bookend to a solid career.

Most baseball fans will remember Volquez for his All-Star days with the Cincinnati Reds, and his World Series run with the Kansas City Royals. Most baseball fans won’t remember Alvarez at all. But most baseball fans aren’t Miami Marlins fans, and while we don’t tend to have much going for us in way of wins, we do have a way of racking up some milestones.

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Best of luck on the new season Henderson and Edinson. Thanks for the memories, and here’s hoping you make some new ones soon.

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