After excelling in the bullpen, Marlins’ George Soriano will make his first MLB start

Over the course of the season, the Miami Marlins have used rookie right-handed pitcher George Soriano in a variety of roles in the bullpen.

Middle-inning relief. Multiple-inning reliever, both in mop-up duties when the game was out of hand and in close games when the starting pitcher failed to provide length. And, in a couple scenarios, late-inning, high-leverage roles.

Soriano will play his latest role for the Marlins on Saturday when he makes his first MLB start against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Exactly how much length Soriano will provide is to be determined. He hasn’t thrown more than 61 pitches in any of his MLB outings this season and last pitched on Sunday when he threw 1 1/3 innings against the Detroit Tigers.

“We’ll watch it,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He’s not built up to 100 pitches or anything.”

What the Marlins hope to get are similar results to what he has provided out of the bullpen.

Soriano, 24, has pitched to a 1.98 ERA over 27 1/3 innings spanning 11 appearances entering Saturday. He has 26 strikeouts against 10 walks. Opponents are hitting just .198 with a .564 on-base-plus slugging against him. He has given up just one home run across 115 batters faced.

“I thank God for the opportunity,” Soriano said recently. “Being healthy. Being here. Being able to help the team. That’s the most important part right now, try to help my teammates in the bullpen and, of course, the team.”

Soriano relies on a three-pitch mix: a four-seam fastball that averages 94.9 mph, an upper-80s changeup and a low-80s slider, the latter two producing their share of swings and misses.

The slider in particular has been effective. Opponents have just two hits in 36 at-bats that end with the pitch. Of Soriano’s 26 strikeouts entering Saturday, 16 have come on the slider.

“It just goes straight, forward and then ... whoops. It just goes to the side,” Soriano said. “That’s it.”

And lately, Soriano has gotten an extended chance to show just how valuable he can be for the Marlins.

This is Soriano’s third stint in big leagues this season. He was initially recalled on April 10 and made his MLB debut April 16, tossing three shutout innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He then two shutout innings April 19 against the San Francisco Giants before giving up three runs (two earned) over two innings April 23 against the Cleveland Guardians before being optioned to Triple A Jacksonville.

He made his return to the active roster on June 2 and logged a three-inning save against the Oakland Athletics on June 3 — making him just the 11th player (and 13th overall instance) in Marlins history to record a three-inning save —. before being optioned again on June 6.

When he was recalled for a third time on July 1, he found a way to stay up. In seven relief appearances, he allowed just five runs (three earned) over 17 1/3 innings. He pitched at least three innings pitched in four of seven appearances and only allowed one run overall in those four extended outings

“He’s building up like he could start,” Schumaker said earlier this season. “You can feel the confidence building also. I’m not thinking that this guy’s not going to be able to start one day, and it might even be this year.”

That day is Saturday.