JUPITER, Fla. — Sandy Alcantara reaches toward the top shelf of his locker. In his excitement to bring down a baseball for an impromptu demonstration, he accidentally knocks over a couple of other objects that he pays no attention to. It’s the baseball that matters most in this moment, and with it in his grasp, he moves his fingers slightly more apart to illustrate a grip for his new pitch: a sweeper.
Every year, a similar scene plays out in clubhouses across Florida and Arizona. For all pitchers, spring training is the time for fiddling with the old and showcasing the new. Sometimes, the latter sticks. Often, it does not. Therefore, it is hard to discern when to take a new pitch seriously.
In the case of a Cy Young Award winner like Alcantara, a new pitch warrants attention.
“The great ones are always looking for ways to stay ahead,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said.
Can the Miami Marlins’ longtime frontline starter, perhaps the top trade candidate in baseball, improve upon an uneven 2025? Health and a new sweeper are among the reasons people within the Marlins are bullish on Alcantara’s chances.
In his first season back from Tommy John surgery, Alcantara had a 5.36 ERA in 174 2/3 innings, 31 starts. His first-half ERA: 7.22. His second-half ERA: 3.33. His command after the All-Star break was notably sharper. A trip to Puerto Rico during the All-Star break with his family was a pivotal turning point, he said, because it allowed him to clear his mind. He said he felt he returned as a “brand-new pitcher.”
Sandy Alcantara won the Cy Young Award in 2022 when he posted a 2.28 ERA with 207 strikeouts. (Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)
“Sandy’s resume speaks for itself,” Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said.
Alcantara did not make traditional rehab starts in 2024. From Bendix’s view, Alcantara spent the first half of 2025 essentially rehabbing. Clearly, there was some rust.
“He was shaking off the rust in-season. He was trying to find that final adjustment in-season. We saw in the second half of the season what it looks like when he makes that adjustment,” Bendix said. “That’s the version we are going to see going forward. His ability to refine his arsenal and potentially add to it is only going to play it up. He is in a great mental space. We are going to see the real, true, ace-level version of Sandy.”
Alcantara’s sweeper holds importance because of how it could complement his repertoire. It took years to learn the pitch, the 30-year-old Alcantara said, and he isn’t about to let go of it now. Over the winter, after months of working with Marlins pitching coach Daniel Moskos, Alcantara stumbled into a subtle grip change that worked for him.
“It’s going to be a great pitch for me this season,” Alcantara said. “It’s come a long way.”
Club officials said Alcantara’s sweeper does not need to be that good for it to be effective. Alcantara is famous for throwing hard. His fastball sits at 98 mph. Even his changeup checks in at an average of 90 mph. Both the right-hander’s changeup and sinker move in the same direction: inside to right-handed batters, away from left-handed batters. The sweeper offers something different. It can end up as just an occasional pitch. It can end up adding just one more strikeout per game. Fine. If that happens, Alcantara and the Marlins would take those results. They just want batters aware of the threat.
Alcantara is entering his ninth year with the Marlins. With Alcantara, the Marlins have twice made the postseason: in 2020 and 2023. Last season, they went 79-83, finishing four games behind the final wild-card entrant. When asked how close the Marlins are to making the playoffs, Alcantara replied, “Oh, we’re there. We are there.”
Alcantara’s confidence is not reflected in the odds. FanGraphs gives the Marlins just a 7 percent chance of making the postseason. Considering the Marlins traded Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers, two promising starters from their rotation, for a bunch of prospects, the percentage could have been worse. With Cabrera and Weathers, however, the figure would not have been dramatically higher. Miami officials think they’ll field a relatively competitive team, similar to last year. They wanted to be careful about mostly maintaining that stance while setting themselves up for a better future. Hence the trades.
It would not have made much sense for the Marlins to deal Alcantara with the veteran coming off such an up-and-down season. Not if they think Alcantara is capable of more. In 2026, he is set to make $17.3 million. The only other Marlins player set to make more than $4 million is reliever Peter Fairbanks, a free-agent signing. The Marlins hold a 2027 club option on Alcantara for $21 million.
Alcantara likes the idea of sticking around, being part of the Marlins’ next playoff team. He likes the direction of the club. He worked out with co-ace Eury Perez in the winter. He applauds the organization’s improved pitching development. Still, he has been around long enough to say, “As players, we are here today, somewhere else tomorrow.”
Alcantara’s salary numbers are high by the Marlins’ standards. They are not high in too many other places. For comparison’s sake, Chris Bassitt, 37 and a solid pitcher, not a spectacular one, signed a one-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles for $18.5 million. The starting pitcher market is unpredictable, but Alcantara’s salary seems reasonable — especially if he resembles his old self. Or his old self with a new wrinkle.
In his first spring training start last week, Alcantara allowed a home run on his sweeper. Afterward, he told reporters that he still needs to work on trusting the pitch. From the perspective of Alcantara and the Marlins, confidence in the pitch is expected to take time. That much is fine.
Just as long as he doesn’t put the sweeper back on the shelf.