Mat Latos' Awful Debut a Major Cause for Concern for Playoff-Hopeful Marlins

If this is how Mat Latos is going to pitch for the Miami Marlins, then Jose Fernandez can't come back soon enough.

In what was a homecoming of sorts, given that Latos went to high school in nearby Coconut Creek, Florida, the 27-year-old right-hander suffered his worst MLB start while making his first appearance with Miami on Tuesday evening.

In just two-thirds of an inning—the shortest start of his career—Latos gave up seven earned runs on six hits and two walks without a strikeout, as the Atlanta Braves drubbed the Marlins, 12-2.

The loss drops Miami, a team that had a busy offseason and enters the year with hopes of contending for a postseason berth in 2015, to 0-2. The club has scored three runs in its first two games.

But the offensive shortcomings paled in comparison to Latos' disastrous start with his new squad, and that could be a problem going forward.

"It's ridiculous to put the team through that," Latos said afterward (via Mark Bowman and and Joe Frisaro of MLB.com). "Cost the ballgame. Glad to get that out of the way, I guess."

The Marlins had better hope he's right about that last part. USA Today's Scott Boeck noted Latos' dismal stats:

They traded for Latos in December to help fill in the front of a rotation that is going to be without its ace until midseason—likely around the All-Star break in July—while Fernandez continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

That was just one of several noteworthy moves Miami made to make a push this year. The others included signing first baseman Mike Morse and trading for second baseman Dee Gordon and third baseman Martin Prado. Oh, and handing out the largest contract in North American sports' history—$325 million, if you're scoring at home—to superstar slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

No wonder there was some buzz around the Fish coming into the regular season.

A mere two games can't wipe away all of that, but it's hard to envision a worse start—both for the Marlins and for Latos.

The six-year veteran sported a 3.34 ERA and 1.17 WHIP for his career prior to Tuesday's shellacking, but there are signs Latos already could be on the decline.

He missed half of 2014 while battling through two separate surgeries, one for his knee and another for his elbow. When he did pitch, his ERA (3.25) and WHIP (1.15) in his 16 starts appeared more or less to be right in line with his career numbers.

And yet, Latos' velocity was down significantly—almost two full miles per hour, per PITCHf/x, according to FanGraphs—and his strikeout rate plummeted from 8.3 per nine through his first five years to a meager 6.5 per nine in his 102.1 innings last year. He also had another procedure on his elbow this past offseason.

SEASON	VELOCITY	K/9
2010	94.0	9.2
2011	93.0	8.6
2012	92.7	8.0
2013	92.5	8.0
2014	90.7	6.5

Now this. Yes, it's still only the first start of a new season with a new team, so a little adjustment is allowed.

But it's not a good sign to see such a sorry showing against perhaps the worst offense in baseball—the Braves finished 2014 with the second-fewest runs scored and then proceeded to trade three of their top hitters this offseason in Justin Upton, Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis—from what is expected to be a front-end arm.

In his brief but brutal appearance, Latos left almost everything up and over the middle of the plate. And his velocity settled in the 90-91 miles per hour range, hitting 92 just four times and topping out at 93 on one occasion.

"He just didn't have it," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said (via Bowman and Frisaro). "[Pitches were] flat and up in the zone. They squared quite a few balls up. Not a whole lot to say."

Now the onus to prevent an early-season losing streak falls to the rest of a rotation in Tom Koehler, Dan Haren and Jarred Cosart that is shaky at best and could be a complete catastrophe at worst. Especially considering Haren nearly decided to retire rather than pitch for the Fish and Cosart just received a fine as the result of a recent investigation into a non-baseball-related gambling incident.

Joe Skipper/Associated Press

As Frisaro writes in noting the Marlins' interest in adding another starter via trade: "Miami’s rotation had its struggles in spring training. Not only were a number of the performances rocky, but the durability of the staff also has caught the front office’s attention."

Soon, it will be Latos' turn again to try to make a better second impression with his new team.

And if that doesn't happen, well, July may be too late for Fernandez.

Statistics are accurate through Tuesday, April 7, and come from MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com, except where otherwise noted.