On Sunday, the Miami Marlins made Edward Cabrera’s lifelong dream come true.
After Triple-A manager Al Pedrique told him that he was called up to the major leagues, the Marlins starters seemed to shed some tears of joy.
Cabrera, 23, is Miami’s second-ranked prospect and the fifth-ranked right-handed pitcher prospect in baseball. Major League Baseball pipeline. He will join the Marlins vs. Washington Nationals series on Monday, and then make his major league debut in Wednesday’s game against Washington.
According to Pipeline, the 6-foot-5 right-handed starting pitcher has a fastball from the mid-1990s and is expected to become the best rotation starter in the next few years. This year, he scored 3-4 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 61⅓ innings in 13 minor league games. He scored a 1-3 record with a 3.68 ERA in six starts for the Jacksonville Giant Shrimp in Miami’s top three leagues.
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All of this resulted in the Marlins, losing seven consecutive games and ranking last in the Eastern Conference of the National League with a 51-74 record, which called Cabrera. Pedric is the former manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and a veteran who has managed more than 1,700 minor league games. He must add some drama while telling Cabrera that his dream is coming true.
“You have to travel tomorrow,” Pedric said. “Do you have a sports jacket?”
“No,” Cabrera replied, telling Pedric to give up the move.
“You’re going to the major leagues,” he said, and Cabrera covered his face with his hands, then gave pitching coaches Jeremy Powell and Pederick a long hug.
This call is not only the realization of a lifelong dream, but also the culmination of years of hard work. Cabrera originally came from San Diego in the Dominican Republic. Before the Marlins signed him for $100,000 in 2015, he did not sign in the first year of qualification when he was only 16 years old.
Cabrera struggles with inconsistency as he tries to master his command of minors. When the Marlins struggled in their system for the first three seasons, the Marlins considered making him a substitute. In the 2016-18 season, Cabrera scored 7-17 with an average score of 4.42 and a WHIP of 1.43 in 46 games at three levels.
He rewarded the Marlins for their patience in 2019, making 116 strikeouts in 96⅔ innings of A-level and double-A. But Cabrera did not play against the opposing batsman in 2020 because the minor league season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he struggled with a shoulder injury while participating in the alternate venue in Miami. Cabrera subsequently missed most of the spring training and a month of the 2021 regular season due to biceps injury. His call for the majors is his third promotion in 2021.
