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Marlins’ Neidert growing as MLB pitcher. His latest showing was against his hometown team

Nick Neidert is a Georgia boy through and through. He grew up in the Atlanta area and had a standout prep career as a starting pitcher at Peachtree Ridge High in Suwanee, about a 30-minute drive from Truist Park, that led to him being a second-round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. Naturally, he was born and raised an Atlanta Braves fan and watching the likes of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux.

That made Wednesday a little more sentimental. It was a full-circle moment of sorts.

There Neidert stood, making his second career MLB start for the Miami Marlins against the team that helped foster his love for the sport.

“Playing against them is really special,” Neidert said Tuesday. “I know when I’m not playing against them my family and friends are at the games watching and supporting the Braves so hopefully they’ll cheer for us instead.”

Neidert went through some lumps in the start, especially with two outs, but held the Braves to three runs on five hits and four walks while striking out three in 4 2/3 innings. The Marlins won 6-5 in 10 innings and have won each of the first three games of the series. Miami (5-6) has a chance to complete the four-game sweep of the Braves (4-8) at 12:20 p.m. Thursday.

Of Neidert’s 76 pitches, 42 were strikes. Normally one to mix in his entire arsenal of pitches, Neidert almost exclusively used his four-seam fastball (48 pitches) and slider (25 times) on Wednesday.

Through two starts this season, Neidert has a 4.00 ERA.

Neidert’s ability to produce will be be key for Miami this season. The Marlins’ starting pitching depth has been thinned early on due to injuries to both Elieser Hernandez and Sixto Sanchez since the season began and to top prospect Edward Cabrera during the offseason.

“What I do like about him,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “is he’s a guy that is starting to understand who he is. He’s focused on what he’s doing and he’s going to continue to get better.

“For him, the more success he has here, the better off he’s going to be.”

Neidert’s rise with the Marlins

Neidert, who the Marlins acquired from the Seattle Mariners in the Dee Strange-Gordon trade before the 2018 season, is the No. 11 overall prospect in the Marlins’ organization according to MLB Pipeline and likely would have made his MLB debut in 2019 if not for a meniscus tear in his right knee early in the minor-league season.

A strong showing at the Arizona Fall League, spring training and summer camp following MLB’s nearly four month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic last year was enough for him to earn a spot on the 2020 Opening Day roster as a reliever. His time in the big leagues that first year was brief, though. He was one of the 18 Marlins players who tested positive for COVID-19 after the first weekend of the season, and Neidert missed about six weeks of the 60-game season while recovering and getting back into game shape.

He made just four appearances and threw 8 1/3 innings as a result. He held opponents scoreless in three of those four outings but gave up five earned runs in two innings in the other.

Neidert impressed again during spring training, striking out 15 batters over 12 2/3 innings and built himself up to the point where he can throw 100-plus pitches if needed.

“I do think he used the experience from last year to help him,” Mattingly said, “because he came to camp and was different. He had his wind up back together and his delivery. He was back to being himself.”

Nick Neidert #29 of the Miami Marlins delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on April 14, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nick Neidert #29 of the Miami Marlins delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on April 14, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Getting ahead of hitters

Neidert’s plan of attack on the mound is simple. He needs precise command and to effectively use all four of his pitches if his outing is going to go well.

Neidert isn’t the flashiest pitcher. His fastball tops out around 95 mph and sits between 91 and 93 mph, but he has a deceptive delivery that can throw off hitters’ timing.

“He’s not going to be 96 or 97 [mph] where everybody’s all excited and everything else,” Mattingly said, “but he is a guy that has a chance to have a good big league career and get plenty of outs with his stuff. ... He’s going to have to be competing all the time, and that’s competing in your work, that’s competing on your side day to be better, to get perfect. I like that competitive side.”

There were some flashes of that potential in his first start on Thursday against the New York Mets at Citi Field to begin the road trip. Neidert only gave up one run over 4 1/3 innings and struck out three batters, but he also allowed five walks and was battling with a high pitch count early after a 24-pitch first inning.

“When I fell behind [in counts], I ended up giving up hits or walking guys,” Neidert said. “So getting ahead, getting myself in good counts will hopefully get me deeper into ballgames.”

Wednesday started out as good as he could have hoped. Neidert needed 12 pitches for a perfect first inning and worked around a one-out walk to Ozzie Albies by getting Dansby Swanson to ground into a double play.

A two-out, two-run home run to Ronald Acuna Jr in the third and back-to-back two-out hits by Acuna and Freddie Freeman in the fifth were his downfall.

The goal now is to come back out five games from now and find a way to build on it.

“I’ve talked about this with younger guys: You think you can pitch in the big leagues, but you just don’t know until you get here,” Mattingly said. “There’s a point in guys’ career that something goes on in their head and they know they can have success. I think Nick’s getting there.”

Game recap

The Marlins had a 5-3 lead when Neidert left the mound in the fifth thanks to a Miguel Rojas RBI double, Jesus Aguilar RBI single and Jazz Chisholm Jr. three-run home run.

But Acuna’s second home run of the game, a two-run shot in the seventh off Richard Bleier, tied the game and ultimately forced extra innings.

Aguilar’s leadoff double in the 10th scored Starling Marte, who was the runner on second to begin the extra inning, and Yimi Garcia set down the top of the Braves’ lineup — Acuna, Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna — to earn his second save of the season.