Alcantara has a 7.12 ERA over 43 innings across eight starts for Double-A Springfield in 2017, Max Gelman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports."We've got to be patient with him, said Springfield manager Johnny Rodriguez. "He's learning. The guys are good at this level, Double-A, they'll be better at Triple-A, they're going to hit some pitches that he makes;even when he feels he made it, they still get to it."
The 21-year-old right-hander made the leap to Double-A after a combined 23 starts between Low-A Peoria and High-A Palm Beach, so the rocky adjustment period isn't necessarily a total surprise. Alcantara has given up at least six hits in all but one of his eight starts and has already surrendered seven earned runs on two occasions. He has racked up 40 strikeouts and notched a pair of victories, however, so it hasn't all been gloom and doom for the still-promising prospect. Rodriguez emphasizes that Alcantara is trying to work on developing one of the most important but sometimes evasive skills for a young pitcher, namely, a short memory following unfavorable at-bats.