What Happened To Sandy Alcantara?

What Happened To Sandy Alcantara?

McDonald’s and the Marlins, two franchises that start with an M and leave customers with greater postspending clarity than an alcoholic after going to a strip club. The more time goes, the less I understand the baseball gods, which I guess is the point. But it will forever make no sense that the Marlins were blessed with two championships. The Rays have been an analytical powerhouse for years. Same with the Cleveland and the Indians that guard baseball and their consistent winning. The Brewers have proven to be one of the smartest teams in baseball. The A’s had Brad Pitt. Like, how do none of those teams have any World Series wins in the last 30 plus years or ever? Yet, the Marlins accidentally stumbled into not one but two championships. I’m convinced the baseball gods love Miami and hate Seattle. I mean, talk about life not being fair. But after 2003, the Marlins have been treated much more accordingly as we’re at yet another rebuild with this team. And this is even being screwed up. Although, not really by them. You can actually call it bad luck. Ironic. Really quick, if you’re subscribed yet, go ahead and hit that button along with the bell if you enjoy the videos. As Sandy Alcantra was a dog in 2022, even before that, he was really good and he just kept getting better and better each year with 2022 being where it all truly came together. He was brilliant. I think that’s the perfect word to use for Sandy Alcantra that year. He was an artist out there, a true pitcher, not going out there trying to blow anyone away with his fast ball. He’s not trying to blow anyone. Just be efficient, get out. His velocity on his fastball actually got higher as the game went on. He threw more innings than anyone in baseball. Pitched more complete games than anyone in baseball. He threw six of them, which is more unheard of nowadays than a working ice cream machine at McDonald’s. See, we’re back to McDonald’s. But yeah, Sandy was the man. Then 2023 came around, and I mean, there was never a good chance he would top or even match his 2022 season. It just is what it is. It’s like when the first Star Wars movie dropped. How are they going to top that for the sequel? Well, they did. Okay. Well, Batman Batman Batman Begins by Christopher Nolan. Great movie, but you can’t expect the secret. Okay, you know what? These aren’t the best examples, but you get the point. So, when Sandy regressed in 2023, it wasn’t shocking and he didn’t have a great season, but it was still good relative to the whole league. Although, things didn’t end well at all. He’d go on the injured list at the end of that season with a right forearm flexor strain, getting an MRI that revealed a sprain of Alcantra’s UCL, which says Tommy John all over it. although he still attempted to make a comeback, still felt discomfort in his forearms, so the team shut him down right before the playoffs. And yes, the Marlins made the playoffs in 2023. Nobody knows that, so I’m saying it out loud here before you forget again. And it makes sense to not know that. I mean, they got eliminated before they could even realize they were in the playoffs. And then Sandy had to get Tommy John, a surgery that’s more inevitable nowadays for pitchers than a child having to talk with their parents. All of 2024 would be a wash. And that was that. And so he’s back for 2025 just to end up like Aval Lavine dead with someone else playing the part as if she never died. I don’t know. I saw some tinfoil hat theory about that years ago and it stuck with me since. So now I’m starting the conspiracy theory that Sandy Alcantra was killed after 2023 because it’s the only way I can cope with how bad he’s been since coming back. His erra in his first eight starts is eight. He’s given up seven home runs. So almost a homer per time he’s out there. But the biggest most drastic difference in what’s gone wrong is his walks. Sandy was never a pitcher who walked many hitters. I mean, that’s partly how you go so deep into games like he did more than anybody. Filling up the zone, getting outs, you’re not walking people. Well, this year he is a lot. He’s walked four hitters in two outings this season, five in another. That was against the Dodgers when he got roughed up for seven runs on seven hits, and he walks five. That’s crazy. Then in his very next start against the Dodgers again, this time in Miami, he only walks one, but still gets crushed for five runs. Show hits a ball harder than the bus that killed my grandpa. Show basically hit the same exact home run off Sandy in Dodger Stadium, too. Then this time in Miami, bullet to right field. Oh, but then he gets a break. His next start is against the White Socks. I mean, big difference than the Dodgers. This could be a comeback outing. The one he’s been looking for. And in a way, it was. He struck out more hitters than he has this year so far, only to walk three hitters and give up four runs. Three of them coming on a home run by Tim Elco on his first career hit. I saw an interesting idea as to why Alcantra has been struggling so much that it’s his arm angle dropping. It’s dropped a little bit from about a 34° angle before the surgery to a 31° angle. Now, an explanation for that arm angle lowering is interesting. Apparently, studies have shown that media movies are some of the best movies ever, whether it’s the comedic genre or just movies at all. Tyler Perry is a true genius, and there are other studies that show lower arm slots lead to less strain on the elbow. And Cindy’s not the only guy lowering his arm slot. Paul Ske has done this a little bit too compared to last year. But we’re also all walking monkeys on a floating rock. What the hell do we know? This is just some hypothesis that could or could not work. Time will tell. But what’s interesting about Alcantra struggling this bad right now is the fact that he’s an obvious trade piece. Well, he was and still is, but it’s just different now that he’s so bad. The Marlins blow harder than Neil Patrick Harris. You know that. I know that. We all knew that before the season. Trading Sandy Alcantra for prospects is an obvious thing that can and will happen. I’ve been very confident the Yankees will be the team to do it, especially after Garrett Cole went down just makes a lot of sense obviously, but again with how bad he’s been, what’s going to happen? Will a team out there still be willing to give up even a decent hall of prospects for Sandy after this start? If not, will the Marlins still want to trade him? Now, he’s just coming back from being out over a year, and it’s not like his pitches are really any different. His fastball is still what it was before he got surgery. The main issue seems to be a location problem. He’s getting crushed and walking guys more than he ever has. He’s leaving pitches right over the plate or missing entirely and walking them. Maybe the arm slot is playing into this. Maybe the Marlins will figure this out. Maybe they don’t care. I don’t know. What I do know is that Sandy Alcantra is not an eight RA pitcher. He can’t be. So, he was killed and replaced by a decoy. No. I mean, the trade deadline isn’t for another well over 2 months. So, he has time to build his stock back up for the Marlins for their sake and for his. Gez, there are more people in witness protection programs than Marlins fans on Marlins games. Go check out the trailer for my new podcast on my podcast channel. Thank you for watching. Love you.

iTALK POD TRAILER: https://youtu.be/Fz84xw5yulg?si=yHVm83ER4GpDfCfx

#mlb #baseball #sports

iTALK STUDIOS INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/italk_studios?igsh=MTBjdnNleno0Z2VwcA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

iTALK STUDIOS TWITTER/X: https://twitter.com/italkstudiosyt?s=21

iTALK STUDIOS GAMING CHANNEL: ​⁠@iTalkStudiosGaming

iTALK STUDIOS SECOND CHANNEL: ​⁠​⁠@iTalkStudiosExtra

VIDEO MUSIC CREDIT TO ​⁠@mikhelvin AND ​⁠@samuelkimmusic

Mik
► Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3jaB7yS
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikhelvin

Samuel Kim
► Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2vYKPBd
► YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/samuelkimmusic
► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuelkimmusic