Sandy Alcantara’s fourth strikeout against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night was also the 1,002nd of his Miami Marlins career, surpassing Ricky Nolasco for the franchise’s all-time strikeout record.
For his record-breaker, Alcantara got Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka swinging in the top of the seventh inning. That was the penultimate batter Alcantara faced en route to breaking another record—by earning his 30th career win at loanDepot park, he broke a tie with the late great José Fernández.
Here is a career breakdown of Alcantara’s Ks by pitch type:
279 with changeups
271 with four-seamers
255 with cutters
156 with sinkers
41 with sliders
10 with sweepers
Nolasco originally surpassed Dontrelle Willis for the Marlins strikeout lead on August 23, 2011. Nobody had come close to challenging it since then until Alcantara.
It took Alcantara nearly eight years from the day of his Marlins debut to become the record-holder. It won’t necessarily require Cy Young Award-caliber talent for somebody to usurp him. but finding common ground with the club on a contract extension that delays free agent eligibility will be crucial. Alcantara, for example, would’ve been eligible to walk after the 2024 season had he not signed an extension.
Alcantara has a firm hold of the record through the end of the decade, at the very least. Current Triple-A arm Braxton Garrett is next closest to him among active Marlins with 325, followed by Eury Pérez at 285, who’ll be returning from an injured list stint on Wednesday.
Should Alcantara remain with the Marlins through season’s end and avoid lengthy injury absences, he’s on track to surpass Nolasco for several other franchise records, including innings pitched (currently 48.2 IP behind), games started (11 behind) and losses (one behind).