Carlos Marmol

Carlos Marmol
Photograph at Fansedge

Update

Well, Carlos Marmol is no longer a closer in waiting. Lou Piniella pulled the trigger and named Marmol the closer effective August 18, 2009 replacing a very ineffective Kevin Gregg. Kevin Gregg moved to the bullpen and was not with the team for 2010. Piniella has voiced his confidence in Marmol on numerous occasions. This despite mounting criticism of Marmol running into constant problems on the mound with all the batters he has been walking.

Background

Carlos Marmol made his first pitch on June 5, 2006 for the Chicago Cubs against the St. Louis Cardinals. Carlos has great stuff. He has two pitches, a fast ball in the mid 90 plus range that has movement. But his bread and butter pitch is his slider. It is one of the best and is a strike out pitch. Marmol has different movements on the slider and maybe that is both a plus and a minus. He is very hard to hit as shown by the low batting average against him. He strikes out almost 2 batters per inning but is walking way too many. It has been a problem during his career but this year it has been more of a problem. And it has gotten him in trouble more than once to the point of having him taken out of the game for another pitcher.

Marmol was the set up guy in the eighth inning to hold the lead or keep us close before he became the closer in 2009. It's my opinion that he will need to get his emotions in check if he is going to be an effective closer. When his pitches aren't hitting the mark it seems to snowball and then he can't hit anything. This year Larry Rothchild is making more trips to the mound. Some it may be mechanics and I'm sure other times it's just getting him to focus.

There are times he is just devastating. Marmol had a great 2008 and made a trip to the All Star game to replace Kerry Wood who had developed a blister. Marmol pitched a scoreless 13th inning. But just having great stuff does not make you an effective pitcher. But it can make you a great pitcher. There is tremendous potential here. Just hope it develops sooner than later.

It may be interesting to know that Marmol first signed on as a catcher/outfielder. He was signed by the Cubs in July 1999 as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He was converted to a pitcher after only 14 games.

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