The Marlins have agreed to terms with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. on a multi-year deal, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (Twitter link). Specific salary terms are unclear, but Mish adds that Stottlemyre is now among the highest-paid pitching coaches in the game.
There’d been some uncertainty as to whether the 58-year-old would return to Miami. He took the position on Don Mattingly’s staff over the 2018-19 offseason, re-signing on a one-year deal last winter. With Stottlemyre out of contract and Mattingly and the Marlins agreeing not to continue their relationship, it was in doubt whether he’d stick around.
Miami has clearly valued Stottlemyre’s work with their young arms, and he’ll return for at least a fifth season. The former Royals hurler has spent more than a decade as a pitching coach in the big leagues, previously holding that role in Arizona and Seattle. His veteran status is in contrast to Miami’s incoming manager. Skip Schumaker is taking over the dugout in South Florida, the 42-year-old’s first MLB managerial job.
The Marlins were a below-average pitching team for the first two seasons of Stottlemyre’s tenure, but they’ve been better of late. Dating back to the start of 2021, Miami ranks 13th in the majors with a 3.91 ERA. Their spacious home ballpark has certainly helped in keeping balls in the yard, but they’ve been less fortunate from a batting average on balls in play perspective. This past season, Miami pitchers ranked eighth in strikeout rate, fanning 23.7% of opponents.
Miami has seen Sandy Alcantara develop into one of the game’s top handful of arms. He’s a heavy favorite to win the NL Cy Young award this year after easily leading the league in innings pitched — his 228 2/3 frames topped those of second-place Aaron Nola by 23 2/3 — and posting a 2.28 ERA. The Fish have also seen Pablo López develop into a mid-rotation mainstay, while Braxton Garrett and Jesús Luzardo took steps forward this year. 2021 All-Star Trevor Rogers looked like another top-of-the-rotation arm in the making, but his 2022 campaign went off the rails to a disappointing 5.47 ERA.
Stottlemyre returns to try to guide Rogers back to last year’s form while steering along the development of a number of Miami’s young arms. The Fish also have have Eury Perez and Edward Cabrera as two of the most touted young pitchers in the game, to say nothing of Max Meyer, Sixto Sanchez and Jake Eder — each of whom were very well-regarded themselves before recent injury troubles. There’s enough depth the Fish are likely to explore dealing from their rotation to add some lineup help this winter.
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