Miami Marlins starter Jarred Cosart had an amazing Spring Training, tossing 9 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only seven hits and striking out nine. He did walk five batters, though. Those control problems that didn’t cause him much trouble in the Spring are now causing big trouble in the regular season.

Through two starts, Cosart has pitched only 10 1/3 innings, facing 48 batters and allowing 8 runs, 8 hits, and 9 walks. He has struck out only 7 in that span. All of that adds up to an ugly 6.10 ERA, an ugly 6.10 K/9, and an awful 7.84 BB/9. Marlins fans have heard plenty about Cosart’s upside, but they’re still waiting to see it present itself in a game that counts.

So far in 2016, Cosart has thrown 207 pitches. 112 of them have been strikes, good for only 54%. He throws two different fastballs that have peaked at 95.4 mph this season and at 98.2 mph in his career. He also throws a sinker, a curveball and a changeup. His fastballs are his best pitches by far, and in fact are the only two pitches that are above average according to pVAL. His best pitches a standard four-seam fastball and a cutter, seen below (courtesy of Pitcher List) :

It’s a good pitch with solid velocity and good movement, but it’s not a good enough pitch to be the only pitch he throws. Mariano Rivera basically threw one pitch and became the best closer ever, but his one pitch was that good and he usually only had to get three outs. Jarred Cosart’s one pitch is nowhere near Mariano’s and as a starter, he has to get far more than just three outs. So, Cosart has other pitches.

His sinker has slightly above average spin rate, coming in at 2155 revolutions per minute this season compared to the league average of 2120 rpm. It has been a slightly below average pitch (-0.6 pVAL/C) in his career, right around where his curveball (-0.5 pVAL/C) has been. His curveball induces plenty of groundballs though, and can be a strikeout pitch when it’s on. Here’s a look at his curve:

Finally, Cosart throws a changeup. He doesn’t throw it often and it is absolutely a pitch that he is still developing. It’s been just below average (-0.1 pVAL/C) for his career, but it can be tough to get a read on it because he throws it so sparingly. If he is able to work on it with the new Marlins pitching coaches, it could be a valuable pitch. Here’s Cosart’s changeup:

With a plus fastball and a bunch of pitches with for now unfounded potential, Cosart might be a great fit for the bullpen. Unfortunately, the Marlins already have a lack of depth in the rotation, so Cosart is likely to get plenty of chances to stick. With only Justin Nicolino looking like a possible Major League starter in the high minors, Cosart is set to stay in the rotation for a while. He has had two bad starts to begin the year, but the Marlins gave up plenty to get him from the Houston Astros a few seasons ago and saw his deceptively wild Spring as a positive when handing him the fourth spot in the rotation.

Jarred Cosart could be a good starting pitcher, but for now, he has too much trouble throwing strikes to make a positive impact in the rotation. With the Marlins already having bullpen problems, they can’t afford a starter like Cosart who seldom pitches past the fifth inning due to an elevated pitch count. The problem is, who else is there?

**Special thanks to Pitcher List for allowing the use of their videos in this article. Check out their site for gifs and videos of pitchers around the league along with top notch analysis.**