Rogers topped out at 96.2 mph with his fastball while getting three strikeouts with his slider over two scoreless innings in his first game action of the spring Friday, Christina De Nicola of MLB.com reports. "I felt really good," Rogers said during a Zoom call afterwards. "The main thing is all my pitches were working. Felt really good coming out of the hand. The slider had a nice bite to it. I could throw it out of the zone. The changeup had good depth to it. The fastball was riding well in the zone. Overall, felt really good for the first time out."
The southpaw is the front-runner for the Marlins' No. 5 starter job after posting a stellar 30.0 percent strikeout rate and palatable 10.0 walk rate over 28 innings in his big-league debut last year, although Rogers' 6.11 ERA and 1.61 WHIP left a lot of room for improvement. The organization's No. 6 fantasy prospect was a first-round pick in 2017, so there's no questioning his arm talent, and his ability to bring heat from the left side would be an asset in a rotation that is otherwise populated by righties.