Cal Quantrill Struggles in Marlins Debut Losing to Cardinals 8-4

Jupiter, Florida- Spring has finally arrived, which means baseball season is right around the corner! All 30 MLB teams have reported to Spring Training as players shake the rust off and prepare for the upcoming 2025 season. The Miami Marlins returned to their home away from home in Jupiter, Florida, and took on their neighbors and Roger Dean Stadium “roommates,” the St. Louis Cardinals.

After a 62-100 2024 campaign, the Marlins tore their roster apart and launched straight into another rebuild. With the primary focus on developing talent from within, Miami had a very quiet offseason in terms of acquiring players in free agency.

The Lone Signing

Not a single penny was spent all winter until finally, during the first week of spring training, Miami made a signing. You can never go wrong with more pitching, and that is what the Marlins addressed by signing starter pitcher Cal Quantrill.

Braxton Garrett will miss the entire 2025 season recovering from UCL surgery, and Miami traded Jesus Luzardo to Philadelphia in late December, so Quantrill will provide much-needed depth and experience.

The right-hander will be tasked with eating innings and providing that type of relief to a very young and inexperienced starting rotation besides Sandy Alcantara. The other starting pitching options, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, Max Meyer, and Valente Bellozo, have not thrown at least 100 innings in an MLB season.

Not only will Quantrill be the “veteran” presence in the starting rotation, but also in the entire clubhouse. At 30 years old, Quantrill will be the oldest player on the 40-man roster, with not a single player over the age of 29 as the season begins.

After finding a new home and a couple of weeks of Spring Training practice under his belt, Quantrill was penciled in to make his Marlins debut against the Cardinals on February 27.

Cal Quantrill taking the mound against the Cardinals making his #Marlins debut @LemonCityLive pic.twitter.com/ab8AM5aP3N

— Alex “Milo” Aguirre (@aguirrethecap33) February 27, 2025

Quantrill Meets the Roger Dean Welcoming Committee

Right out of the gate, Quantrill’s outing was shaky. In the bottom of the first, he walked the leadoff batter Victor Scott and later stole second base. Lars Nootbaar followed up with an RBI single to right field, and in two batters, the Cardinals had the lead.

Quantrill’s command seemed to be an issue walking the following batter, Wilson Contreras, to put runners on first and second for St. Louis’ cleanup man, Nolan Arenado.

The 8-time All-Star third baseman looked like he was in mid-summer form as he launched a three-run home run over the left field wall. Quantrill faced four batters, and all four runners scored. He would settle in after surrendering the home run, retiring the next two batters.

After JJ Wetherholt reached base on a throwing error by Otto Lopez, Marlins Manager Clayton McCullough saw enough out of the veteran pitcher with his pitch count reaching its limit. That was it for Quantrill’s Marlins debut. It was one to forget, but February blues are nothing new to him.

“I’ve had historically not very good springs, which is not something to be proud of. We’ll be there when we need to be there. I’d like to continue to get better early in camp. It’s the first one; I’m not going to lose any sleep; we’ll be back at it. We got some good stuff to work on here with a couple pens in between, and I’m excited to get back out there.” 

Cal Quantrill shares his thoughts on his outing today against the Cardinals and what he can improve on for his next time on the mound. In his #Marlins debut Quantrill only recorded two outs, surrendering four runs and walking two. @LemonCityLive pic.twitter.com/cdKqVxW6Bv

— Alex “Milo” Aguirre (@aguirrethecap33) February 27, 2025

Offense Responds Backing Up Quantrill

After the Cardinals put up four runs in the bottom of the first, the Marlins responded with their own rally in the top of the second. Otto Lopez and Nick Fortes led off the frame with back-to-back singles and advanced to scoring position on a passed ball.

Agustin Ramirez worked a walk to load the bases for Andrew Pintar. The middle infield prospect singled to right field and brought in Lopez and Fortes to cut St. Louis’ lead in half 4-2. With runners on first and third, Xavier Edwards legged out an infield single, bringing in Ramirez.

Andrew Pintar, who was acquired alongside Deyvison De Los Santos in the A.J. Puk trade, smacks an RBI single to drive in two runs.

It's his second hit of the spring. He's up to 4 RBI's through three games played.#Marlins pic.twitter.com/Q2k8uMFEHb

— Kevin Barral (@kevin_barral) February 27, 2025

That would be it for the Cardinals starter Andre Pallante as his start was cut short too like Quantrill. Zack Weiss was the new pitcher and got Eric Wagaman to fly out to record the first out of the inning. Matt Mervis continued to have a successful Spring Training and kept the rally alive against Weiss with a single to right field, bringing in Pintar to tie the game 4-4. Mervis is now hitting over .400 in spring training.

That would be all the offense Miami could manufacture today, but Manager Clayton McCullough was pleased with the team’s at-bats and their response from an early 4-0 deficit.

“They were great early on. X’s first at bat, to come back and work it felt like eight, nine pitches, to get in there and force Pallante to work some, the rest of the guys did a good job of just, you know, what? The guy is not in the zone, get yourself in good hitting counts, pass the baton, come up with some knocks and we were able to chip away and get back in. Really good at bats from those guys first couple times through.”

Other Positive Takeaways

Valente Bellozo and Adam Mazur threw two innings each against the Cardinals, and both surrendered one run, but Mazur’s command looked sharp. The former Padres’ prospect struck out three batters in his two innings of work and did not walk anyone. Bellozo struck out two and saw an uptick in velocity with his fastball hovering between 91-93 mph. Calvin Faucher and George Soriano also threw a scoreless inning each out of the Marlins’ bullpen as both right-handers look to be key pieces out of the pen this season.

“I think my best stuff today was throwing strikes,” said Bellozo postgame. Change-up was there, sweeper was there, cutter was there. We were getting  ahead of the guys.”

That'll do it for Valente Bellozo:

2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 37 NP

Fastball averaged 90.9 mph and topped out at 92.2 mph.

28 of his 37 pitches were thrown for strikes#Marlins pic.twitter.com/mrW8ULq7EO

— Kevin Barral (@kevin_barral) February 27, 2025