The Marlins have reinstated pitchers Pat Venditte, Mike Morin and Josh A. Smith from the 60-day injured list and outrighted the trio to Triple-A, leaving the club with a 40-man roster, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald tweets. All three are expected to elect free agency, according to McPherson.
Because of a team-wide coronavirus outbreak early in the season, the Marlins had to scramble to assemble a bullpen, which helps explain why their relievers posted the majors’ fifth-worst ERA (5.50). Venditte and Morin were not part of the problem, though, albeit over a small number of innings.
The ambidextrous Venditte gave the Marlins 4 1/3 frames of one-run ball (unearned), allowed one hit, didn’t walk a batter and struck out 10. Morin was similarly effective, as he threw four scoreless innings with one hit and one walk, though he only posted two strikeouts.
On the other hand, Smith (not to be confused with Josh D. Smith, who was also a Marlins reliever in 2020) had immense difficulty keeping runs off the board. The right-hander recorded an ugly 6.84 ERA (with a more encouraging 4.67 FIP) and 6.15 K/9 against 3.76 BB/9 across 26 1/3 innings.
Oh I get it ! “On the other hand”…
You slick nickle you….
Yeah.
That was a gift.
Damn I really liked Smith. He was our best relieve minus maybe Kintzler in the first half of the season. Then fell apart in September
Yeah I saw the overall line I was confused. I remember him beibv reliable for at least a month. Hopefully he can figure it out.
In the meantime they need to pick up Kintzlers option and figure out who will actually be a pen arm.
Wait can Venditte really pitch both right and left? That’s pretty cool
He does & it is.
Venditte changes sides again
Josh A. Smith and Josh D. Smith were both on the Pawtucket RS the end of 2018. Josh A. was with the RS in 2019, Josh D. the Indians. Both with the marlins in 2020, so it is an annual event getting released……even in some cases if they resign with the same team. It would suck having to move every year…..maybe they all go month to month on their apartment leases…..
so long to the amphibious pitcher
he can pitch underwater too!?!
Venditte didn’t strike out 10 batters in just 4.1 IP… he struck out 5. When I first read that I was like WOW that’s impressive… but then checked his stats and it wasn’t the case. Regardless I always (and still) felt like he should be given a bigger opportunity in the majors. I know he’s struggled at times with ERAs hovering around 5/5.50 but he has also put up really spectacular numbers in the minors and I just feel like if he got a bigger opportunity in the majors he’d have a chance to really contribute. I know he’s not all that young anymore but who knows maybe he’ll get lucky and latch on somewhere next spring training and actually show what he can do.