Marlins Announce Probable Pitchers for First Grapefruit League Games
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The Miami Marlins' Grapefruit League season is set to kick off on Saturday against the NL East rival New York Mets, and now we know who is set to start the opening games of their spring training slate.
As reported by Marlins MLB.com reporter Christina De Nicola, top pitching prospect Robby Snelling will get the nod against the Mets. From there, Miami ace Sandy Alcantara will take to the mound for the Grapefruit League home opener at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Monday against the Washington Nationals and Eury Pérez and Max Meyer will split pitching duties on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
No starter is likely to log a significant workload, particularly in the early stages of the spring. However, each of these pitchers have something to prove to Marlins manager Clayton McCullough and team brass.
What's At Stake This Spring for the Marlins' Starters
After a busy offseason in which 2025 starting pitchers Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers were both traded, there is some room for Miami's pitching hopefuls to become rotation mainstays.
Snelling lit up the Marlins' minor league system in 2025, going 9-7 with a 2.51 ERA across 25 appearances between Double-A and Triple-A to earn a No. 39 ranking on MLB Pipeline's top prospects list. The lefty also struck out 166 batters, to just 39 walks, in 136 innings.
Preseason projections have the 22-year-old reaching the majors sometime in the middle of the season, but he could use a strong spring to state his case for breaking camp with the big club.
Snelling will bring Miami's young, up-and-coming pitching into focus, but the veterans on the roster will have something to prove, too. Case in point, Alcantara can use the spring to show that he isn't on the decline after posting an 11-12 record with a 5.36 ERA in 2025. The 30-year-old was returning from 2023 Tommy John surgery last season, so there's hope that he can shift further away from the 2025 version of himself and closer to his 2022 NL Cy Young-winning season.
Meanwhile, Pérez continues to rebound from his own Tommy John procedure in 2024, and Meyer is out to prove he's healthy after undergoing season-ending hip surgery last July. Both righties are expected to factor significantly into the 2026 Marlins' starting rotation.
Even with position battles to watch and with plenty of eyes on new arrival Owen Caissie, pitching is likely to be the story of Miami's training camp. Snelling will vie for a rotation spot alongside the likes of Alcantara, Pérez and Meyer, but he will have plenty of competition amongst the likes of fellow lefty prospect Thomas White, Braxton Garrett, Chris Paddack, Janson Junk and others.
And it all begins on Saturday.
