Garrett’s fastball velocity, big defensive plays and a mind-set around Marlins camp

Braxton Garrett will take the good with the bad from his first spring training appearance of the season.

Garrett, the ninth-ranked prospect in the Miami Marlins organization by Baseball America, threw two shutout and hitless innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday but walked three of the seven batters he faced.

“My fastball command wasn’t quite there,” Garrett said. “Three walks, I’m not quite happy about that. ... I’m just going to go out next time, try to get ahead and get in better counts.”

What he is happy about: His fastball velocity.

Garrett sat between 91 and 93 mph during his two innings of work. He averaged just 89.6 mph during his two big-league starts last year.

“I was losing a little gas [late last season],” Garrett said. “I’d like it to be a little higher, and I think I can get it there. Just continuing to throw and as the innings get up and I get a little more conditioned, that will go up or at least stay where it is.”

Defensive highlights

JJ Bleday has already shown what he can do with his bat early on this spring training.

On Tuesday, he showed what he can do in the field.

In the third inning of the Marlins’ 0-0 tie with the St. Louis Cardinals, Bleday fielded a flyball from the warning track in right field and fired an almost perfect throw to Garrett Cooper to double up Max Moroff, who walked to lead off the inning and was attempting to steal second when Matt Carpenter sent the fly ball in Bleday’s direction.

“It was incredible,” said Victor Victor Mesa, who started the game in center field. “An amazing throw. It was a good play.”

It was one highlight among several Marlins defensive highlights on Tuesday. Infielder prospect Jose Devers, starting at third base, made a strong play in the shift on the first ground ball of the game and charged down the third-base line to make a play on a Matt Szczur ground ball to end the second inning.

Outfielder Brian Miller helped the Marlins get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh when he fielded a fly ball in center field and threw the ball home to catcher Brian Navarreto, who tagged Delvin Perez on a play at the plate to end the inning.

Controlling the controllable

The Marlins have a small group of players competing for roster spots in camp. Jazz Chisholm and Isan Diaz are vying to start at second base. A handful of outfielders are in contention for bench spots. Four players are feasibly contending to round out the starting rotation.

The unanimous thought expressed publicly among those players: They’re focused on individual improvement and letting the decisions come as a result.

“Honestly, that’s what you control,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “You can’t control what another guy’s doing. You only control your own game. So really, that’s a great approach to take. I do appreciate it. I think it shows a little bit more maturity with guys. I think sometimes you get guys that want to make that Opening Day roster. It’s a big deal to make the Opening Day roster, so they fight all spring to get there, the season comes and it’s like ‘Oh I made it,’ and then two weeks later, a guy’s scuffling and his game’s falling apart and the next thing you know he’s back in the league.

“I’d much rather them have the approach of ‘I’ve just got to keep getting better, keep getting better.’ We ask guys to make my decision tougher and our organization’s decision tougher. And by doing that, that’s what they’re accomplishing.”

Nine-inning next on docket

After playing three seven-inning games to begin their Grapefruit League schedule, the Marlins are now set to expand out to full nine-inning games for the remainder of spring training. That begins Wednesday against the Washington Nationals at West Palm Beach’s Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

Elieser Hernandez will be the Marlins starting pitcher for that game.

The Marlins then have an off day on Thursday during which they’ll work on team defense and have a few pitchers throw live batting practice before their next pod of games begin on Friday.

Full attendance

All Marlins players who are supposed to be part of spring training have now officially reported to camp. The team had three from their first wave of pitchers and catchers who dealt with COVID-19 intake issues. They have since been cleared. Outfielder Jerar Encarnacion, who was delayed getting to Jupiter due to visa issues in the Dominican Republic, also cleared his COVID-19 intake process.