Former Arizona pitcher Andrew Nardi called up to majors by Marlins

The list of ex-Wildcats to make the big leagues keeps growing, with two more former Arizona baseball players getting the call up this week.

On Wednesday it was outfielder Cal Stevenson with the Oakland Athletics, and on Sunday it was left-handed pitcher Andrew Nardi with the Miami Marlins. He did not appear in Miami’s 3-1 home loss to the Atlanta Braves, so his Major League debut is expected to come during a 3-game home series this week against the San Diego Padres.

Nardi, who will turn 24 on Thursday, had been killing it for Miami’s Triple-A team in Jacksonville since getting promoted from Double-A in May. In 24 appearances with the Jumbo Shrimp he was 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA and seven saves, striking out 45 in 31.2 innings, and he was ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 30 prospect in the Marlins’ organization.

A 16th-round pick of the Marlins in the 2019 MLB Draft, Nardi played just one season at the UA after transferring from a junior college. In 2019 he went 4-5 with a 6.75 ERA in 17 games, including 14 starts, throwing seven shutout innings against Cal and Penn State and striking out a career-best 10 against Washington in 5.2 innings.

Nardi is the fourth ex-Arizona player to make their Major League debut this season. Outfielder JJ Matijevic came up in April for the Houston Astros, righty Chase Silseth was promoted from Double-A in May for the Los Angeles Angels (after pitching for the Wildcats in the College World Series less than a year earlier) and Stevenson had a single, a walk and a sacrifice bunt for the A’s in his first game.