Sandy Alcántara

Sandy Alcántara Montero
(Sandman)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 5", Weight 200 lb.

• Debut September 3, 2017

• Born September 7, 1995 in Azua, Azua D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Sandy Alcántara signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent on July 2, 2013. After a rough start in 2014, when he went 1-9 in 12 games for the DSL Cardinals, he was solid with the GCL Cardinals in 2015, going 4-4, 3.22. In 2016, he split his time between the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League and Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League. His record was an uninspiring 5-11, but with a decent ERA (3.96) and a very good 153 strikeouts in 122 2/3 innings. He was promoted to the Double A Texas League in 2017 and was 7-5, 4.31 in 25 games for the Springfield Cardinals. His strikeout rate fell quite a bit, however, to 106 in 125 1/3 innings. Still, he was considered one of the better pitching prospects in the organization given his very young age and outstanding raw stuff, and he was given a look by the major league Cardinals in September, with a 4.32 ERA in 8 relief appearances.

On December 13, 2017, he and outfielder Magneuris Sierra were the most prominent of four prospects traded by St. Louis to the Miami Marlins for All-Star outfielder Marcell Ozuna. After starting the 2018 season in the minors, he made his first appearance for the Marlins and first career start on June 29th. It was a winning outing as he defeated the New York Mets, 8-2, allowing 1 run in 5 innings. In all, he made 6 starts for the Marlins, going 2-3, 3.44. In the minors, he spent the bulk of the year in Triple A with the New Orleans Baby Cakes, where he was 6-3, 3.89 in 19 starts and 115 2/3 innings. He started the 2019 season in the Marlins' starting rotation. On May 19th, he pitched a masterful Maddux, defeating the New York Mets, 3-0, in a two-hitter. It was both the first shutout and complete game of his career, and he needed just 89 pitches to do it. He recorded another shutout on September 8th, defeating the Kansas City Royals, 9-0. He was the first Marlins' rookie pitcher with 2 shutouts since Dontrelle Willis in 2003. It was also his first win since the All-Star break, where he had been the Marlins' sole representative in the game. Sandy had gone 4-8, 3.82 in 17 starts before the break, but was 0-4 in 11 starts since. He finished the season 6-14, even with a respectable 3.88 ERA, while leading the league in complete games, shutouts, and losses.

He made just 7 starts during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, being one of numerous players on the team caught in the outbreak of the disease that threatened to wipe out the Marlins' entire season. He pitched well when able to take the mound, going 3-2, 3.00 as the Fish sneaked into the expanded playoffs. He started and won Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on September 30th, allowing just 1 run in 6 1/3 innings, then on October 6th was charged with the loss in the opening game of the Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. He was still not the team's most heralded starting pitcher when the 2021 season started, but he turned out to be the most consistent one. On September 13th, he had his best start of the season, taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning against the !Washington Nationals, in spite of taking a comebacker off the bat of Juan Soto to the knee in the 4th inning. He ended up allowing just 1 hit in 8 innings and striking out 7 to receive credit for the 3-0 win. He finished the season at 9-15, but his record did not reflect how well he pitched: his ERA was 3.19 and his ERA+ was 131, he led the league with 33 starts, logged over 200 innings and struck out 201 batters. All that was missing was some better run support.

He continued to distinguish himself as one of the better starting pitchers in the National League in 2022, being named Pitcher of the Month in June when he led the majors with 47 2/3 innings, putting up an ERA of 1.89 while going 3-1. He was the second Marlins pitcher to win the monthly honor that season, following Pablo López in April. He was named an All-Star for the second time. He ended the year at 14-9, 2.28, leading the NL in innings pitched (228 2/3), batters faced (886) and complete games (6); he also shared the major league lead with 1 shutout. His ERA was second behind Julio Urias and he topped 200 strikeouts for the second time, with 207. He was then named the unanimous winner of the 2022 National League Cy Young Award, becoming the first pitcher in Marlins history to win the award. After the season, he was honored by the city of Miami, FL which celebrated his great season by having Mayor Francis Suarez gift him a key to the city while proclaiming January 10th as "Sandy Alcantara Day". Among Marlins players, only Livan Hernandez had received such an honor before him, after being named MVP of the 1997 World Series.

He pitched for the Dominican Republic national team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, before the start of the 2023 season for the Marlins. He was the team's Opening Day starting pitcher on March 30th but had an uncharacteristically poor outing in a 5-3 loss against the New York Mets, but he was back to his old self in his next start. On April 4th, he pitched the first complete game and shutout of the major league season in defeating the Minnesota Twins, 1-0. He needed only 100 pitches and one hour and 57 minutes to complete the feat, with Avisail Garcia providing all of the offense with a solo homer Kenta Maeda in the 2nd. He went 7-12, 4.14 in 28 starts for Miami, once again leading the NL in complete games with 3 and tying for the shutout lead with 1. He logged 184 2/3 innings but was on the injured list from September 4th to the end of the regular season, in spite of his mediocre performance, the Marlins won a wild card spot. The day following their loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the Wild Card Series, October 6th, it was announced that he had undergone Tommy John surgery and would miss all of the following season.

Notable Achievements

• 2-time NL All-Star (2019 & 2022)
• NL Cy Young Award (2022)
• NL Innings Pitched Leader (2022)
• 3-time NL Complete Games Leader (2019, 2022 & 2023)
• 3-time NL Shutouts Leader (2019, 2022 & 2023)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 2 (2021 & 2022)
• 200 Strikeouts Seasons: 2 (2021 & 2022)

NL Cy Young Award
2021	2022	2023
Corbin Burnes |	Sandy Alcantara |	Blake Snell

Further Reading

• Christina De Nicola: "Sandy joins exclusive club with 2nd straight 200-inning season", mlb.com, September 13, 2022. [1]
• Christina De Nicola: "Unanimous: Alcantara 1st Marlin to win NL Cy Young", mlb.com, November 16, 2022. [2]
• Christina De Nicola: "With Cy in hand, Alcantara drawing on Pedro's legacy", mlb.com, November 21, 2022. [3]
• Christina De Nicola: "On Sandy Alcantara Day in Miami, ace receives key to city", mlb.com, January 10, 2023. [4]
• Christina De Nicola: "Go behind the scenes of Sandy's workout routine", mlb.com, January 23, 2023. [5]
• Christina De Nicola: "Alcantara tosses 4th career shutout in just 100 pitches: Pregame plan goes out the window 'because his two-seam was so good'", mlb.com, April 4, 2023. [6]
• Christina De Nicola: "'She's a mother figure': How Sandy's sister paved the way", mlb.com, May 11, 2023. [7]
• Joe Frisaro: "Prospect Alcantara: 'New doors are opening': Right-hander 'ready to compete' with Marlins at Spring Training", mlb.com, January 11, 2018. [8]
• Gabe Lacques: "An ace and leader at 26, Marlins' Sandy Alcantara just keeps getting better", USA Today, May 3, 2022. [9]
• Paige Leckie: "Alcantara aims even higher after winning Cy Young", mlb.com, March 1, 2023. [10]
• Jordan McPherson: "‘I’m here’: Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara ready to cement himself among MLB’s best", Miami Herald, April 6, 2022. [11]
• Jordan McPherson (Miami Herald): "Miami Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara named NL Pitcher of the Month for standout June", Yahoo! News, July 2, 2022. [12]

Related Sites

• Sandy Alcantara on mlb.com