Miami Marlins observations: Tim Anderson to debut Thursday, Edward Cabrera’s outing

Tim Anderson’s spring training debut with the Miami Marlins is set.

Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said the shortstop, who officially signed a one-year deal with the club on Saturday, is “penciled in” to the starting lineup for the team’s game on Thursday against the New York Yankees at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. First pitch for the game is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

Until now, Anderson has been working out daily on the back fields. Miami has primarily rotated utility players Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan and Xavier Edwards at shortstop for their first handful of spring games.

“We’re gonna make sure all the boxes are checked,” Schumaker said.

The final boxes were checked Wednesday after Anderson went through baserunning drills. He had already taken a pair of live batting practice sessions and worked with infield coach Jody Reed on defense drills.

Edward Cabrera’s outing

Marlins right-handed pitcher Edward Cabrera threw a pair of shutout innings in his first spring training start on Wednesday, giving up two hits while striking out two and not issuing a walk. Of his 31 pitches, 20 landed for strikes.

“My mentality is more about staying in the zone,” Cabrera said.” And I think I did a good job today.”

Schumaker said pregame one of the Marlins’ main messages to Cabrera was “letting him know that his stuff is as good as anybody’s and all four pitches that he has are as good as anybody’s.” Cabrera ranked among the top 20 percent of qualified pitchers last season according to Statcast in expected batting average (.199, 93rd percentile), ground ball percentage (55.7 percent, 91st percentile), fastball velocity (96.2 mph, 86th percentile), and swing-and-miss rate (30.9 percent, 83rd percentile).

Beyond the fastball, all three of Cabrera’s secondary pitches induced whiff rates of at least 30 percent last season: His curveball (38 percent), changeup (36.3 percent) and slider (30.6 percent).

However, Cabrera also walked 15.2 percent of the batters he faced.

“He thought about that in the offseason and had a time to take a deep breath and relax and understand where he’s at and how his stuff really plays,” Schumaker said. “He can literally out-talent a lot of hitters just on stuff.”

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said his main priority with Cabrera is on the mental side of his game, helping him get over the “hurdles and humps” that have stymied him early in his MLB career.

“We keep beating into him how nasty he is and how good he can be,” Stottlemyre said. “Stuff-wise, when he puts together the innings that he does, it’s top-of-the-rotation stuff, and we keep telling him that. I backed off it a little bit because sometimes that that brings more pressure, right? He’s trying to get through that part. ... I will tell you this about him: His work is really good. He throws strikes in bullpens. His misses are good. He does all the right things. He checks the boxes off from the pitching coach standpoint where the delivery and everything’s repeatable that you go ‘OK, he’s on the right track there,’ but we’ve got to overcome some of the things that happens between the white lines. We’re still working through that with him.”

Cabrera is doing his part as well in trying to “stay away from those negative thoughts,” as he put it.

“If something comes up that you dislike or that’s not part of the plan, try to move that away,” Cabrera said. “Stay away from that area and not stay exactly there. It’s a matter of turning the page and just keep moving forward.”

This and that

▪ Right-handed pitcher Sixto Sanchez threw a bullpen session on the back fields prior to the Marlins’ game Wednesday. Schumaker on Tuesday said Sanchez will likely make his spring debut in the coming days, potentially as early as this weekend.

▪ Left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers, who has not yet appeared in a spring game, is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session on Thursday.