He’s a ‘beast,’ a ‘sheer power guy.’ Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara finding ways to improve

The pitch comes out of his hand with a little more pace, a little more bite. There’s more depth, showing some characteristics of his fastball while still having enough break to get the best of the opposing hitter.

Sandy Alcantara’s slider, his primary breaking ball, has gotten a makeover.

The result? It has helped the Miami Marlins’ rising ace raise his game even more.

“We did a lot of work out in the bullpens and getting to those edges and in him eventually getting to the feel for that,” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said. “He changed his hand position a little bit on the slider, and we got him mentality wise just to think more fastball than breaking ball with it. Man, it’s been good.”

How good?

According to Statcast, the average velocity of Alcantara’s slider this season heading into his next start on Sunday is 90.4 mph, more than 4 mph faster than his career average with the pitch heading into this year (86.2 mph).

Opponents are hitting just 183 against the pitch, nearly a third of plate appearances that end on that pitch have resulted in strikeouts and just shy of 40 percent of swings against the pitch overall have resulted in whiffs.

And he’s using it a lot more frequently during his latest hot stretch.

Alcantara has a 1.55 ERA over his last seven starts, allowing just nine runs over 52 1/3 innings with 64 strikeouts against just seven walks. He has thrown at least 6 1/3 innings and no fewer than 96 pitches in each of those starts.

Alcantara has thrown at least 28 sliders in every start during that span, which dates back to Aug. 11 against the San Diego Padres, dating back to Aug. 11 against the San Diego Padres. In total, 32.1 percent of his pitches — 233 of 726 — in this span have been sliders.

The results: a .172 batting average against (11 for 64) with 24 strikeouts and two walks. Twenty-two of Alcantara’s 24 strikeouts with the slider in this span have been swinging strikeouts.

Alcantara primarily throws the slider low and inside to left-handed hitters and outside to righties, which is the perfect complement to the rest of his arsenal.

His sinker and changeup go in the opposite direction, generally low and inside to right-handed hitters and to the outside zone for lefties, while his four-seam fastball generally trends toward the top of the strike zone. All four pitches average at least 90 mph, with the four-seam fastball and sinker hitting triple digits.

“A sheer power guy with stuff moving in all different directions late,” Stottlemyre said. “We’ve talked about keeping power to those pitches and getting to different parts of the zone because hitting’s not easy, as we know, and to be able to cover stuff that’s moving that hard and that late in all quadrants — he’s got pitches that work in all quadrants now that move in all different directions.”

‘I’m seeing the results’

Alcantara specifically noted the improvement of the pitch after the Marlins’ 6-1 win against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 28. Alcantara struck out 12 batters that day, a new career high that he would break two start later. Seven of those 12 strikeouts were on the slider. All seven were swings and misses. In simplest terms, he called the pitch “nasty.”

“I’ve been working so hard on my slider,” Alcantara said, “and I’m seeing the results.”

The results extend beyond just the individual pitch. Alcantara is on pace for one of the best individual pitching seasons in Marlins history if he finishes on a strong note.

Alcantara has a 3.10 ERA through his first 30 starts this year, with a career-high 185 strikeouts over 188 2/3 innings pitched.

He’s on pace to become just the seventh Marlins pitcher ever to record 200 strikeouts in a season, a group that includes Jose Fernandez (253 in 2016), Ryan Dempster (209 in 2000), Kevin Brown (205 in 1997), A.J. Burnett (203 in 2002), Anibal Sanchez (202 in 2011) and Al Leiter (200 in 1996).

Only eight times has a starting pitcher in Marlins history had a season with a sub-3.00 ERA, a mark that is also feasible for Alcantara to obtain.

And he could become the first Marlins pitcher to throw at least 200 innings in a season since Mark Buehrle in 2012.

“This guy is a beast,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “This is 6, 7, 8 innings just about every time now, and I know he’s had a couple of hiccups during the course of the year, but this dude’s an animal. I mean this is a horse, and it’s gonna keep getting better and better.”

‘Having him here is just a blessing’

Alcantara’s evolution is taking place when he’s not on the mound, too. The 26-year-old veteran of Miami’s rotation has become a mentor to his fellow up-and-coming starting pitchers.

“There’s a lot of young guys coming behind me,” Alcantara said. “They’re gonna follow me. I’ve got to keep doing the right thing and keep showing them they can be like me, too.”

This first became apparent in spring training when he took Sixto Sanchez under his wing.

Now, he’s doing the same with Jesus Luzardo and Edward Cabrera.

“Having him here is just a blessing,” Cabrera said. “Being with him, chatting about the game. As we know, Sandy is truly a beast.”

That’s enough to put a smile on Stottlemyre’s face. In previous stops, Stottlemyre has always had at least one pitcher assume a leadership role. In Arizona, he had Max Scherzer. In Seattle, there was James Paxton.

Alcantara is finally turning into that guy for the Marlins.

“That’s something that’s been missing” in Miami, Stottlemyre said. “But hey, he’s talked it. He’s probably dreamed about it, being the ace, being the guy, but more important he’s backed it up. He’s backed it up with his work in between. You go over and watch his bullpens, and our young pitchers are glued in on watching how this guy does it. And he’s backed it up between the lines. He has earned the right to wear that crown.”