Introduction: Welcome back, as I hope you all are doing well! For my next post, I have decided to write about one of the best starting pitchers in baseball, who also is my pick to win the NL Cy Young Award this season, Sandy Alcantara. From getting signed by the Cardinals in July of 2013, to being dealt to Miami in 2017, my goal is to cover Sandy's" "rise to fame". Most importantly, I hope you all enjoy reading my article!
Sandy Alcantara was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in July of 2013 out of the Dominican Republic. The seasons that followed in the minor leagues, the wiry and skinny Alcantara was able to gain velocity on his pitches, resulting in reaching triple-digits consistently. While his command and control needed some work, Sandy was projected to be at the very least a closer at the Major League level.
While never being an outstanding prospect, Alcantara was ranked sixth in the Cardinals 2017 minor league system, the year he made his Major League debut out of the bullpen. Those ranked above him in the Cardinals pipeline were the likes of Carson Kelly, Luke Weaver, Delvin Perez, Harrison Bader, and the highly-touted prospect at the time, Alex Reyes, who was also ranked first among all prospects in the Minor Leagues.
Looking back at this list five years later, a few thoughts crossed my mind: Reyes can never stay healthy, Kelly is a mediocre catcher for the D-Backs, Luke Weaver never panned out to his full potential, Delvin Perez is still in the minors, and Harrison Bader was just traded to the Yankees, who won his first Gold Glove in 2021 with the Redbirds, as his defense is his strength. Needless to say, Alcantara is miles ahead of these other five and someone St. Louis should have never given up.
The previous statement leads me to my next point in the article. Fast-forward to December of 2017, Alcantara had just finished his debut season, pitching to a 4.32 ERA over eight relief appearances. At the time, Marcell Ozuna was coming off his best season of his career in Miami, as he had 37 HR, 124 RBI, and a .312 Batting Average. The Cardinals needed outfield help, as they were able to acquire Ozuna for a handful of prospects that for the most part have done well. The Cards gave up Alcantara, Zac Gallen, and speedster Magnerius Sierra in exchange for Ozuna.
Aside from Sandy, Zac Gallen has turned himself into an above-average arm, as he had his breakout season in 2020. Pitching to the tune of a 2.75 ERA in the shortened 2020 campaign, Gallen out of his four professional seasons has only seen his ERA above four once (4.30) in 2021, resulting in a 3.42 career ERA. Sierra never turned into much, but was always a threat on the bases, stealing 39 bases for Miami in 2018. Currently Magnerius is in the Los Angeles Angels organization.
After being dealt to Miami, Sandy was sent to the Minor Leagues for part of 2018 for a bit more seasoning to refine his skills. Starting three games at High-A Jupiter and 19 games at Triple-A New Orleans, Sandy was then called up to Miami. While only starting six games, his ERA was a solid 3.44, while he was credited with two wins, as he showed promise. Although his ERA bumped to 3.88 and went a dreadful 6-14 in 2019, Alcantara was named an All-Star for the first time in his career.
Alcantara seemed to flip a switch during the 2020 campaign. Although a small sample size of 42 IP, he was able to lower his ERA to 3.00, WHIP to 1.19, and have a career best 8.4 SO/9. Sandy Alcantara has a tall and lanky frame as I mentioned at the beginning of the article. When you take a quick glance at the 6'5 right-hander, you will notice he has an intimidating presence on the hill, often times his eyes peering over his red Rawlings glove before throwing a pitch out of the windup. His intimidating presence seemed to really take effect over the last two years.
In 2021 he started a league-best 33 games and was even able to get over the 200 innings mark for the first time in his career, as he finished with 205.2 IP. The 9-15 W-L record that Sandy posted is nothing to be ashamed about, as Miami's offense was only able to produce 3.85 runs per game in 2021. This was equivalent to the second worst in the league in 2021, only ahead of the Pirates.
Entering 2022, Sandy Alcantara was my "dark horse" Cy Young candidate. Although I thought he would be further improve, I never thought he would be this good this quick. Below, are his statistics for the 2022 season through August 3rd.
22 GS,158.1 IP, 10-4 W-L, 1.88 ERA, 0.935 WHIP, 215 ERA+ 5.8 WAR, 3 CG, 1 SHO
Stat Key:
GS = Games Started
IP = Innings Pitched
W-L = Win-Loss Record
ERA = Earned Run Average
WHIP = Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched
ERA+ = ERA adjusted to ballpark factors
WAR = Wins Above Replacement
CG = Complete Games
SHO = Shutout
From the stat line above, Sandy is currently leading the league in innings pitched, leading the NL in ERA, and is among the league leaders in a handful of other pitching categories. As far as pitching percentiles, Alcantara places in the 96th percentile in fastball velocity and the 89th percentile in expected ERA (xERA). His highest ERA in a month this year was in July (2.12) which is just insane! A workhorse, Alcantara can go deep into games if need be, averaging 7.18 IP per start this season. His best pitches are his changeup and slider, as he uses those to put hitters away at almost half of the time.
Final Thoughts: I hope you all have enjoyed reading my article on the rise of Sandy Alcantara. To sum it up, Sandy has paid off well in Miami, as the Marlins got their end of the bargain and then some. Alcantara is just getting into the prime of his career, as I have a feeling he is going to be an ace for a long time!
See you at the Ballpark!!!
Adam
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