Tag Archive for: Caleb Smith

Marlins Starling Marte

Meet the Marlins: Starling Marte

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The Miami Marlins entered MLB’s 2020 Trade Deadline day looking to be opportunistic. The team currently holds a playoff spot, something that haven’t been able to say since 2003. Their 17-year playoff drought is the second-longest current span in MLB. To make that playoff push, the Marlins reportedly acquired veteran outfielder Starling Marte from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The deal, which saw LHP Caleb Smith, RHP Humberto Mejia and Class-A LHP Julio Frias go to Arizona, came on the same day the team traded away Jonathan Villar. Marte adds a solid right-handed bat with speed to the Marlins lineup.

Meet the Marlins: Starling Marte

A 9-year veteran, Marte signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates out of the Dominican Republic in 2007. Marte moved quickly through the Pirates’ system and made his MLB debut in 2012.

In eight years with Pittsburgh, Marte played mostly left field and earned an All-Star berth in 2016. He’s earned two Gold Gloves in his career and left Pittsburgh after seven-straight seasons with at least 20 steals, including five over 30 and two over 40.

After his trade to Arizona, Marte moved primarily to centerfield. He’s been a productive bat for the Diamondbacks, despite the team’s struggles. He came over to bolster the lineup of a potential contender but that never came to fruition for Arizona.

In 2020, Marte’s slash line is .311/.384/.443, and his OPS stands at .827. Versus left-handed pitching, something the Marlins have struggled with this season, he’s hitting .379 with a .920 OPS. Marte’s been really good with runners in scoring position, hitting .300 with a .753 OPS. And when he’s ahead in the count, he’s been awesome: .424 batting average and 1.346 OPS.

The Marlins have Marte under contract through 2021, as his contract contains a $12.5MM club option (a $1 million buyout for 2021). His addition to the lineup will replace whatever speed was lost in the Villar trade. Marte immediately becomes one of Miami’s best bats and should be a difference maker in the field.

Leaving the Marlins are Smith, Mejia and a Single-A reliever prospect.

Smith, Mejia and Frias Sent to Arizona

The Marlins acquired Smith from the New York Yankees in 2017, along with Garrett Cooper, for RHP Mike King. Over two seasons (and one start in 2020) with the Marlins, Smith 15-17 4.39 ERA over 233.2 IP and 45 starts. He had a 1.245 WHIP and looked like a dominant power lefty at times.

Smith, though, lost time to injuries during his time with the Marlins. He landed on the 60-day IL in 2018 with left shoulder tightness. In 2019, hip inflammation landed him on the IL as well. In 2020, Smith lost time to COVID-19.

Humberto Mejia surprised many with his performance in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Mejia made three starts for the Miami, ultimately posting a 5.40 ERA over 10 IP. His record was 0-2, but he didn’t give up more than three runs in any start.

At 23-years-old, Mejia signed as an amateur free agent out of Panama. He wasn’t anywhere near as heralded as some of the other pitching prospects in the system, but he showed promise. That promise may have been what led to this trade coming together.

Julio Frias signed as an international free agent with the Marlins in 2014. At 22-years-old, Frias sports a power lefty arm and has solid strikeout numbers but hasn’t pitched above Low-A.

Marlins loss

Marlins Suffer Frustrating Loss to Phillies, 7-1

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The Miami Marlins came crashing down to earth after the high of Opening Day. Less than 24 hours after posting five runs on nine hits, including a homer and two doubles, Miami’s bats quieted against Zack Wheeler. The Marlins loss dropped them to 1-1 on the season.

Caleb Smith made his season debut but struggled to consistently find the strike zone. Smith labored through three innings. He surrendered six walks and a towering home run to Didi Gregorius. Of his 70 pitches, only 36 went for strikes.

Smith battled with baserunners all afternoon. He managed to minimize the damage with timely strikeouts, but his pitch total pushed him from the game after three.

“Obviously, not a lot was working,” Smith said via Zoom after the game. “Six walks in three innings is not acceptable. A horse-shit outing. I take full responsibility for that loss.”

Smith’s six walks matched a career high, but none of the batters he issued free passes to crossed the plate to score.

“He made some good pitches when he had to,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “The walks hurt us. Put us on our heels all day long.”

All told, Marlins pitchers issued nine free passes to Phillies hitters.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Mattingly acknowledged. “You walk nine guys in this ballpark, and it could’ve been a lot worse. All the walks put us in a bad spot all day long.”

The opposite was true for his opponent. Wheeler commanded the strike zone throughout, registering four strikeouts and inducing four inning-ending double plays.

“He was pretty dominant all day,” Mattingly said of Wheeler.

Every time the Marlins seemed to be a on the verge of making an offensive push, Wheeler worked free. His four-seam fastball averaged 96.8 mph and he induced inning-ending double-plays in the first, second, fifth and sixth innings.

Marlins hitters struck out seven times in total, managed only one extra base hit and went 1-for-5 with runner-in-scoring-position.

Three Marlins Make Debut in Loss

Despite the Marlins loss, one bright spot this afternoon was the different debuts. Nick Neidert and Alex Vesia made their MLB debuts, and Stephen Tarpley made his first appearance with Miami. Of the three, Neidert proved to be the most successful.

The 23-year-old righty stands as the Marlins No. 10 overall prospect according to MLBPipeline. He entered in the fourth and tossed 2.1 scoreless innings from there. He gave up a hit and walk but kept the Marlins in the game.

Afterwards, Neidert called the debut “a dream come true. I’ve dreamed of this day since I was five years old. It was an amazing feeling. We didn’t get the win, and there’s always tomorrow, but it was a dream come true.”

Veisa followed Neidert in the sixth. He started his MLB career with a strikeout of Didi Gregorius, but subsequently walked Scott Kingery and surrendered a two-run homer to Phil Gosselin.

Ryne Stanek made his season debut and served up a three-run homer to J.T. Realmuto. In the eighth, Gosselin added a solo shot off Tarpley, who the Marlins acquired in December from the New York Yankees.

Miguel Rojas and Brian Anderson both contributed at the plate during the Marlins loss. Rojas went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Anderson went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.

The Marlins will look to bounce back from this loss on Sunday afternoon. Jose Urena starts for Miami versus Vince Velasquez of the Phillies. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM.

Caleb Smith is ready to return

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Caleb Smith had his second minor league rehab start in Double-A Jacksonville on Sunday. He threw five innings, allowing four runs on four hits, including two home runs, and eight strikeouts in the Jumbo Shrimp’s 6-4 win over the Chattanooga Lookouts.

“He’s strong,” Jacksonville manager Kevin Randell said in his assessment of Smith. “Velocity’s good, location wasn’t as strong as the last outing, obviously. He gave up a couple home runs, no big deal. He’s out there just competing, getting his work in and he had good stuff tonight. He just left a couple pitches up.”

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly said the team wanted Smith to throw 90 pitches to build up arm strength in time for when he is activated from the 10-Day Injured List. Smith is likely to rejoin the team this coming week during their road trip at Washington and Atlanta.

“I’m not sure the exact day but his next (start) will be here,” Mattingly said.

Smith was one of the Marlins top starting pitchers until inflammation in his left hip sidelined him for almost a month. Up until June 7, he had a 3.41 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, an opposing batting average of .198 and 82 strikeouts in 66 innings over 12 starts. He’d most like be an All-Star selection had it not been for the injury.

Elieser Hernandez has pitched in Smith’s place and has gone 1-2 with a 4.07 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 24.1 innings. Zack Gallen and Jordan Yamomoto have also been called up for the first time in their respective careers and pitched in place for Pablo Lopez and Jose Urena. Hernandez spent much of his rookie year in the Marlins bullpen so there’s a possibility that he has earned his place on the roster and is better served to return to the bullpen instead of going back to Triple-A New Orleans.

“It could be either way,” Mattingly said. “It’s been something that we talked about and it’s probably going to go back to what’s best for each guy and what’s best for the organization. Is it best for him to be in the bullpen not pitching very often or is it best for him to get the ball every five days and continue to grow? So that’s going to be the question that we talk about within the organization, development and what’s best for that individual’s development.”

One other factor is which of the young starters are under an innings limit. So far there have been no indication of such so if that’s not going to be used as a motivating factor to move towards the bullpen then a return to New Orleans for one of the three (likely Hernandez) is in order.

 

Caleb Smith le ganó el duelo a Corey Kluber

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Caleb Smith sigue siendo el stopper de los Marlins, y sigue venciendo a aces contrarios.

Hace cinco días los Marlins vencieron a los Filis de Filadelfia en extrainnings en un duelo emocionante entre Smith y Aaron Nola.

Esta vez, le tocó a Corey Kluber ser la víctima de los Marlins, que se inspiran cuando tienen al zurdo en la lomita.

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Caleb Smith sigue ganándose el mote de as de la rotación de los Marlins tras dominar a la poderosa ofensiva de los Indios de Cleveland en siete innings de labor la noche de este miércoles.

Le siguen dando jonrones

La única carrera que aceptó, tal y como sucedió en aquel duelo ante el número uno de Filadelfia, vino producto de un cuadrangular.

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Esta vez, del bate del boricua Robert Pérez.

Lástima que solamente 7,262 tuvieron la oportunidad de presenciar este bonito duelo, con una actuación majestuosa de Smith, la mas larga y efectiva de su carrera.

Así, Smith puso su record en 3-0, con una efectividad de 2.00, entre las mejores de las Grandes Ligas.

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Con sus ochos abanicados de esta noche, el zurdo llegó a 45 en 36 innings de labor.

El juego salvado fue para Sergio Romo, quien permitió un cuadrangular de Carlos Santana, pero pudo dominar a Carlos González y Jason Kipnis, quien significaba la carrera del empate, para adjudicarse su quinto salvado de la temporada en igual número de oportunidades.

Sergio Romo closing a game for the Miami Marlins in 2019. Picture by Tony Capobianco

Te invitamos a leer un análisis del primer mes de la temporada de los Marlins haciendo click en este link.

 

Caleb Smith: el as de los Marlins en Abril

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Caleb Smith ha lanzado como un as de rotación durante sus primeras cinco aperturas en 2019.

Los Marlins vencieron 3 a 1 a los Filis la noche de este jueves gracias un jonrón del dominicano Starlin Castro en la parte alta del décimo inning en el primer juego de la serie de fin de semana que Miami disputa en Filadelfia.

Para los Marlins fue la cuarta victoria en los últimos seis encuentros, tras vencer dos de tres en la serie ante Washington y dividir en Cleveland.

Caleb Smith y Aaron Nola se enfrascaron en un duelo típico de dos número uno de rotación.

Smith es el quinto en el esquema de Miami, pero en la práctica ha funcionado como un stopper.

Sus cinco salidas han sido de calidad, incluyendo dos ante los propios Filis de Filadelfia.

Para Smith, esta ha sido una prueba de fuego.

Se ganó su puesto a pulso en el Spring Training, y ha dejado bien parado al cuerpo técnico de los Marlins, que lo escogió por encima de Wei-Yin Chen.

Los números de Caleb Smith en Abril

Caleb Smith está entre los zurdos con más abanicados por cada nueve innings, con 37 en tan solo 29 innings.

El zurdo de Texas ha sabido salir de las situaciones complicadas que ha enfrentado en lo que va de campaña.

El jueves, retiró a Bryce Harper y Rhys Hoskins con hombre en tercera y un out, para sacar el sexto inning de los Filis y cerrar su gran actuación.

A Smith aún le falta ir más allá del sexto episodio.

Nunca ha pitchado más de seis innings, y ese quizás sea su próxima meta.

Por ahora, los Marlins seguirán cuidando ese brazo que se está convirtiendo poco a poco en la referencia de esta joven rotación.