MIAMI ¨C Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara grew tired of discussing his mediocre performance ¨C by his lofty standards ¨C in his return from Tommy John surgery, so he recently watched video from his 2022 National League Cy Young Award-winning season.
Alcantara hasn¡¯t quite regained that form, but he¡¯s trending in the right direction. Alcantara recorded his first quality start of the season in Wednesday afternoon¡¯s 5-2 loss to the Reds at loanDepot park.
¡°I just put it on my mind, my last start, that I¡¯ve got to be on ¡®Sandy Mode,¡¯ and I think I did a little bit of ¡®Sandy Mode¡¯ today,¡± Alcantara said.
The 29-year-old Alcantara, who collected just six outs last Friday in Philadelphia in the second-shortest start of his career, bounced back to go six innings for the first time since Sept. 3, 2023, his last Major League outing before undergoing surgery. He allowed three runs on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
¡°I thought we made him bring it up into the zone,¡± Reds manager Terry Francona said. ¡°He¡¯s still got a good arm, and as he gets back into pitching, he¡¯s going to be one of the premier guys. I¡¯m glad we caught him now and maybe not in August."
Through five starts, Alcantara has a 6.56 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He is averaging 4 2/3 innings per outing. It¡¯s both frustrating and surprising for Alcantara, who is used to dealing on the mound. But he also understands he went 17 months between MLB appearances.
Plus, those numbers don¡¯t tell the whole story. Here are some trends to remind you why there¡¯s no need to panic:
The ground-ball rate is higher than ever.
Alcantara has always been a ground-ball pitcher, especially compared to the rest of the Majors. He entered Wednesday at 59.6%, higher than his 2022 season (54.2%). The MLB average is 43.1% in 2025 and was 43.6% in ¡®22.
Of his 18 outs recorded on Wednesday, Alcantara tallied half of them on grounders. Need more convincing? His .218 batting average against is on pace to be the third lowest of his career, behind 2022 (.212) and 2018 (.214).
The velocity and stuff is pretty much there.
When comparing Alcantara¡¯s 2025 velocity to his ¡®22 season, the difference isn¡¯t noteworthy, and that¡¯s taking into account his April 1 start against the Mets when he never topped 98.3 mph on the radar gun.
On Wednesday, four of the five offerings in his arsenal reached at least 90 mph. In fact, Austin Wynns slugged a leadoff homer in the third on Alcantara¡¯s full-count 99 mph four-seamer.
His movement also has remained relatively steady over the years. If anything, Wednesday was more of a return to form by relying on arguably his best pitch, the changeup, 34% of the time.
¡°We're just looking at, like you said, what do we believe is going to hold true over a long period of time?¡± Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. ¡°The stuff has been fine. So I think it's just banking on that, believing in that. And again, him just going out there. I think today was a really good step.
¡°Again, you can never have anything back. A pitch here or there, a ball that is at someone and it just changes the entire thing. But I think overall, it was really good for us to continue to build on.¡±
He commanded the zone.
A usually efficient Alcantara has been hurt so far this season by his trouble throwing strikes, as evidenced by his second-lowest strike percentage (.640) and career highs for pitches per inning (17.61) and pitches per plate appearance (4.110).
Though his in-zone rate is slightly up (53.1%) compared to 2022 (52.2%), his 5.2 BB/9 rate entering Wednesday was the second-highest of his career as a starter. To put that into perspective, it was just 2.0 BB/9 in ¡®22.
On Wednesday, Alcantara threw 76 percent first-pitch strikes. By getting ahead in the count, he was able to effectively use his entire arsenal. And he did so while not calling his own pitches on the PitchCom for the first time this season, instead turning to rookie catcher Liam Hicks.
¡°Velocity, ground ball, strike, more attacking,¡± Alcantara said of what "Sandy Mode" entails. ¡°So you guys can see today, more strikes, more ground balls, just a couple hits, but it is what it is and we have to take it.¡±