Sandy’s Back … Back Again

Guess who’s back … back again … Sandy’s back… Tell a friend. The sparse crowds in Miami could be singing that catchy refrain because it appears their ace, Sandy Alcantara, is back to his old form. The 2026 MLB season is very young, but the Marlins have to be muy contento with this big fish leading their pitching staff again.

Way Back in 2022

If your baseball memory goes back a few years. You may recall that Sandy Alcantara was the 2022 National League Cy Young winner by a sizable margin. That year the Sandman was 14-9 with 228.2 innings pitched, 207 strikeouts, a 2.28 ERA, a . 980 WHIP, and an NL-best 8.0 WAR. Maybe most impressive were six complete games that season. In an era of pitch counts and load management, this tough righty has led the senior circuit in a somewhat bygone statistic three times. Prior to 2022, the Marlins’ ace also had strong years from 2019 to 2021.

Although the Miami Marlins reached the playoffs in 2023, Alcantara’s numbers dipped a bit. In October of that year, Alcantara had Tommy John surgery and then missed all of 2024.

The First Year Back

Not uncommon for players returning from TJ surgery, Sandy Alcantara had his struggles in 2025. He had a career-high ERA (5.36) with just 142 K’s (his lowest total for a full healthy season). Yet, if you dig deeper into the South Beach sand, you’ll see his splits trended well. Unsurprisingly, Sandy struggled throughout the first half of the year, but from late July on, Alcantara went seven innings in 7 of 12 starts. Five times he struck out 7+ batters in that span. On May 25th, he had an astronomical 8.47 ERA, but he lowered that by three runs over the final four months.

Return of the Ace

Sandy Alcantara has taken the momentum of last season’s strong finish right into 2026. In three starts this season, he has allowed only two earned runs for a .74 ERA and a .575 WHIP. He already has a scorching 1.1 WAR. His ERA inflated today to 2.67 after giving up seven runs to the Tigers.

As mentioned earlier, like his vintage self, Sandy’s most impressive quality may be that he grinds out innings for his club: seven innings pitched on Opening Day, a complete game shutout against the White Sox on April 1st, and then he went eight and a third innings in his third start. To go that deep into games this early in the year is incredibly noteworthy because managers usually want starters to build up more arm strength before allowing them to finish their own games. Plus, they have to keep the pitcher’s long-term health in mind.