You never forget your first
With Eury Perez scheduled to debut tonight, a look at the organization's top prospect and a look back at some of the most anticipated starting pitching debuts in Marlins history
Only 27 days after his 20th birthday, Eury Perez will be the youngest pitcher and the 2nd-youngest player to ever appear for the Marlins when he makes his major league debut tonight against the Cincinnati Reds. He’s 223 days younger than Jose Fernandez was when Kid K ascended to the major leagues in 2013.
The youngest player in Marlins history: Edgar Renteria, who was 19 years, 277 days when he debuted in 1996.
The organization’s consensus #1 prospect, Perez was elevated to #5 on Baseball America’s updated list of Top 100 prospects last week, the #2-rated pitcher behind Grayson Rodriguez of the Orioles. He began the year the #10 on MLB Pipeline’ Top 100 list, the #3 pitcher behind Andrew Painter of the Phillies and Rodriguez.
The 6-foot-8 Dominican is in only his 3rd professional season after signing with the Marlins for $200,000 in 2019. He’s made only 44 career minor league starts, 23 at Double-A, and has worked a total of only 186 professional innings.
By comparison, Fernandez had made 27 starts, none above-A ball, and had worked 138 1/3 professional innings over 2 seasons before earning the call to the big leagues to begin the 2013 season.
Beginning this season at Pensacola, Perez was 3-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 6 starts. In 31 innings, he’d allowed only 16 hits and 9 walks with 42 strikeouts. Opponents were slashing .148/.214/.324/.538.
One critical thing to keep an eye on with Perez moving forward:
He worked 78 innings between low-A Jupiter and high-A Beloit in his 2021 pro debut and pitched 77 regular season innings at Jupiter and Double-A Pensacola last season.
With 31 Double-A innings under his belt this year, he’s 47 innings away from matching the most innings he’s pitched as a pro, and it’s not even mid-May.
With the stress of major league innings being far greater than what he’s faced so far, this is not a pitcher you can expect to work 150 innings, or anywhere close to that, this season. Whether it’s in the big leagues or the minors, the Marlins will have to manage his innings for the remainder of 2023.
He’s averaged fewer than 4 1/3 innings per start in his minor league career and was at just over 5 innings per start at Pensacola to begin this season.
He threw as many as 90 pitches once this year (the most he’s ever thrown in a pro start) and averaged 83 pitches per outing for the Blue Wahoos.
Perez has never worked more than 6 innings in a minor league start, completing 6 only 4 times in his minor league career (twice in his last 3 starts at Pensacola).
He never worked more than 5 innings or threw more than 81 pitches in a start in 2021. Last year, he threw 6 innings twice and never surpassed 88 pitches.
Based on heights listed by Baseball Reference, Perez will be tied for the 4th-tallest pitcher to appear for the Marlins.
Jon Rauch 6-foot-11
Mark Hendrickson 6-foot-9
Johan Quezada 6-foot-9
Eury Perez 6-foot-8
Brian Flynn 6-foot-8
Tayron Guerrero 6-foot-8
Graeme Lloyd 6-foot-8
Chris Volstad 6-foot-8
Sean West 6-foot-8
Eury Perez will be the 54th pitcher to make his major league debut as a starter for the Marlins, and will look to become the 17th starter to earn a debut win (full list below).
Here’s a look at what our VIEW FROM THE BLEACHERS panel of experts considers to be the most-anticipated ML debuts by starting pitchers in Marlins history:
JOSH BECKETT Sept. 4, 2001 vs. Chicago…Age: 21 years, 112 days
The 2nd overall pick in the 1999 draft, Josh Beckett was Baseball America’s #3 prospect heading into 2001 and debuted as a September call-up after going 14-1 with a 1.54 ERA in 26 games (25 starts) at Single-A Brevard County and Double-A Portland.
The 21-year-old picked up in the big leagues where he left off in the minors, beating the Cubs 8-1 in his debut in front of 13,401. He worked 6 innings of one-hit shutout ball with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. Preston Wilson hit a first-inning 3-run homer off Jon Lieber, and Kevin Millar slugged a 5th-inning grand slam off Lieber, who entered the game 17-5 on the season.
DONTRELLE WILLIS May 9, 2003 vs. Colorado…Age: 21 years, 117 days
Baseball America’s #43 prospect into 2003, Dontrelle Willis earned his call-up by beginning the year 4-0 with a 1.49 ERA in 6 starts at Double-A Carolina.
In his Marlins debut, the D-Train got a no-decision in a 5-4 victory over the Rockies in front of 10,272. Willis allowed 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He was touched for a 6th-inning solo home run to former Marlin Preston Wilson. The Marlins trailed 3-1 in the bottom of the 6th, but tied the game on a Juan Encarnacion 2-run double. Down 4-3 in the 8th, Florida again evened the score, this time on a Steve Reed wild pitch that brought Mike Lowell home. The Marlins walked it off in the 9th on a lead-off home run by Encarnacion.
JOSE FERNANDEZ April 7, 2013 at New York…Age: 20 years, 250 days
Baseball America’s #5 prospect into 2013, Jose Fernandez had never pitched above Single-A and was ticketed to begin the year at then Double-A Jacksonville before Henderson Alvarez and Nathan Eovaldi both went down with injuries late in Spring Training. He debuted as the youngest pitcher in Marlins history.
Facing the Mets at Citi Field, Jose allowed one run on 3 hits in 5 innings with one walk and 8 strikeouts. He took a 3-0 lead into the 5th, his final inning, when Anthony Recker put the Mets on the board with an RBI double. With the Marlins up 3-2 into the bottom of the 9th, Jose was on line for the win until Marlon Byrd hit a walk-off 2-run single against Steve Cishek to give the Mets a 4-3 victory.
SIXTO SANCHEZ August 2, 2020 (G2) at Wash…Age: 22 years, 24 days
The #16 prospect in baseball, according to Baseball America, heading into what would be the Covid season, Sixto Sanchez had been pitching at the Marlins’ alternate training site before being called up to start game 21 of the 60-game season.
In game 2 of a doubleheader at Nationals Park, Sixto earned a 5-3 win, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings with no walks and 4 strikeouts. The 3 runs he surrendered came on a pair of Yan Gomes home runs, a solo shot in the 3rd and a 2-run blast in the 5th. Corey Dickerson hit a 2-run homer for the Marlins.
EDWARD CABRERA August 25, 2021 vs. Wash…Age: 23 years, 134 days
Edward Cabrera began 2021 at #81 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list. Working his way back from injury, he had made 2 starts at Single-A Jupiter, 5 at Double-A Pensacola and 6 at Triple-A Jacksonville before getting the call.
Facing the Nationals in his debut in front of 6,237, he had a 2-hit shutout and faced only one above the minimum through the first 6 innings. Cabrera took a 2-0 lead into the 7th before allowing back-to-back home runs, a 2-run shot by Josh Bell and a solo blow by Yadiel Hernandez. Cabrera exited on the short end of a 3-2 score, charged with 3 runs on 4 hits in 6 2/3 with 3 walks and a pair of punchouts. The Marlins walked it off, 4-3, on a 10th-inning single by Jorge Alfaro.
MAX MEYER July 16, 2022 vs. Philadelphia…Age: 23 years, 126 days
The Marlins’ #1 pick (3rd overall) in 2020, Max Meyer entered 2022 as the #74 prospect in baseball, according to Baseball America. He was 3-4 with a 3.88 ERA in 12 starts at Triple-A Jacksonville at the time of his promotion.
Debuting against the Phillies in front of 13,497, the University of Minnesota product was locked in a scoreless duel with Ranger Suarez until J.T. Realmuto hit a 2-run home run in the 4th. Rhys Hoskins led off the 6th with a solo home run to make it 3-0. Meyer exited after allowing a walk and a double in the inning. His final line: 5 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 5 runs, one walk and 2 strikeouts.
Meyer made his 2nd start 7 days later and left the game with 2 outs in the first, having thrown 10 pitches. He was eventually diagnosed with a torn UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery.
STARTING WITH A BANG
16 Marlins have started and won their major league debut all-time.
A.J. Burnett (August 17, 1999 at LAD)
Brad Penny (April 7, 2000 vs. COL)
Jason Grilli (May 11, 2000 vs. ATL)
Josh Beckett (September 4, 2001 vs. CHI)
Scott Olsen (June 25, 2005 at TB)
Anibal Sanchez (June 25, 2006 G2 at NYY)
Ryan Tucker (June 8, 2008 vs CIN)
Adalberto Mendez (September 6, 2010 G1 at PHI)
Anthony DeSclafani (May 14, 2014 at LAD)
Justin Nicolino (June 20, 2015 at CIN)
Chris O’Grady (July 8, 2017 at SF)
Pablo Lopez (June 30, 2018, vs. NYM)
Jordan Yamamoto (June 12, 2019 vs. STL)
Sixto Sanchez (August 22, 2020 G2 at WAS)
Braxton Garrett (September 13, 2020 G2 vs. PHI)
Cody Poteet (May 12, 2021 at ARI)
Of those 16 pitchers, 7 combined to win a total of 9 games after their debut in the remainder of their time with the Marlins (Grilli 2, Tucker 1, Mendez 0, DeSclafani 1, O’Grady 1, Yamamoto 3 and Poteet 1).
Was at Beckett start, remember him making a point not to step on foul line. Also at dtrain start, remember his nervous mother going up and down the stairs quite often. Might also have been Jack McKeon first game after Torborg was let go.