Marlins starting pitcher Nate Eovaldi made his spring debut Saturday against the Cardinals, and hardly stood out. He tossed two innings, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and a strikeout in a 5-4 win.
He also threw fastballs on nearly two-thirds of his 34 pitches according to the Sun-Sentinel, another factor that hardly seems noteworthy. 70.7 percent of the pitches were fastballs a year ago, and he told the Sentinel he expects to always rely on that pitch most heavily.
"I'm a fastball pitcher," he said. "I'm going to establish that first-pitch strike with my fastball. When it's 0-1 or 0-2, I still have to be able to put them away with offspeed, throw that good one to set up the other pitches."
Barring something unforeseen, Eovaldi is expected to open the season in the rotation. Despite a blazing fastball, Eovaldi struck out just 78 batters in his 106 1/3 innings of work, though he still finished the season with a 3.39 ERA.