Miami Marlins Might Have Something Special In Trevor Rogers
…the emergence of Trevor Rogers as a top of the rotation force for the Miami Marlins.
The 2021 season was supposed to be the Sixto Sanchez show, with Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez vying for the right to claim No. 2 status in a deep starting rotation. However, a delayed spring training and injuries once he got there have kept Sanchez from even throwing so much as a pitch so far. Needless to say, that was not the plan.
But neither was Trevor Rogers being better than anything we’ve yet seen on an MLB stage from Sixto. He’s been simply electric, sporting a 1.84 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. Even though Alcantara has done more than enough to prove he deserves the mantle of staff ace, and that there was no short season magic going on with his 2020 breakout…Rogers is still a point ahead of him in terms of WAR on the year. Wins and strikeouts? Not even close. The only thing stopping him at this point is an innings limit.
Which, of course, is great news for Miami.
The Marlins have far and away had the strongest top of the rotation in the division so far in 2021, and their staff ERA has been near the top of the league all season long. You can’t win without pitching, and after a decade of only being able to develop one elite starting pitcher (Jose Fernandez), this organization has started churning them out like crazy. It’s great to see.
Just as important as the on the field results from Rogers though is what it could mean for the upcoming trade deadline, and what it will certainly mean for upcoming offseason.
Big picture wise, Miami felt pretty good about three of their starting pitchers heading into this season. Rogers has now made that number four, and far faster than anyone anticipated. This frees the team up to make one more aggressive move to bolster an offense badly in need of being bolstered. Depending on which evaluator you put your faith in, both Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett entered the season as better prospects than Rogers.
Unless Elon Musk buys the Miami Marlins this summer, there’s almost zero chance every pitcher mentioned on this slide is with the team in 2022. Someone is getting dealt, and Rogers has made that possible.
Speaking of the offense…